New law on telework

On 23 September, Royal Decree-Law 28/2020 of 22 September on remote working was published and came into force on Tuesday 13 October. This new decree law excludes civil servants and public administration workers.

To continue, teleworking is voluntary and reversible, and must be agreed between the worker and the company in writing. This written agreement must state the worker's timetable, the distribution between face-to-face and remote work, the tools that the worker needs to be able to telework, the expenses, etc. This document must be signed before 23 December 2020.

Another of the main features of the Royal Decree-Law is that the company must provide the material, equipment or tools that the worker needs for teleworking, such as a computer. The company will also be responsible for any additional costs that the worker may incur while working from home (electricity, internet connection, etc.), which is already stated in the European Framework Agreement on Teleworking of 2002.

In terms of workers' rights, they have the right to receive the same conditions in terms of working hours, salaries, training and professional promotion, among others, as a worker doing face-to-face work. In other words, the worker may not be connected to his or her job all day long.

As for the company's rights, the company has the right to digitally monitor its worker without invading his or her privacy, in order to regulate whether he or she is doing his or her job. One of the tools that companies can use to control this is precisely Clockio .