Inside the reach of the Labor Law of our country, there is a special protection that the law distinguishes. A protection, A protection, inside the labor spectrum, means that there is a privileged, differentiated protection and because of that special, that is in the state’s interest to implement as a result of a particular situation at work; this can be product of pregnancy, lactation, labor union representation, being under age, any sexual complaint at work, or any other circumstance that implies any sort of discrimination, wether it is to obtain a specific job, or any benefit inside that job, regardless if its in the public or private sector.

In other words, this protection goes alongside the constitutional principle of equality under the law, so that no worker suffers any type of discrimination in the social law state that our country is based on. This special types of protection are also linked with international law and the vast precedent that has been set by jurisprudence regarding the international conventionality of human rights, promoted by the Constitutional Court and reiterated by the Second Court.

The changes made to the Labor Code, product of the Procedural Laboral Reform, the special protection made in Labor Law suffer important changes regarding their strengthening, both in its substantive part (the recognizing of a few peculiarities), as in its procedural part (under the figure of haste and specialty). It is signaled that the Ministry of Work and Social Security, acting as an administrative organ of Labor Law and specifically in it’s dependence, the inspection of work needed in the first instance to procure there is a request for special authorization (article 514 subsection b, Labor Code) when the employer opts to fire an employee that has a special protection, with the objective that it is inspected if there is any type of discrimination, violation to legislation, and that there is always a justified cause for firing (applied in a reasonable, objective and proportionate way) regarding the firing. There is an understanding that each part always has the option to pursue via the judicial system, in case of any discrepancy with the administrative system, as part of the rights every citizen has to go to another instance to justify his or her case.

In reference to the procedural part, the Procedural Reform creates a special process, under the same Laboral branch, called a “very summary” procedure (made up of seven articles) where there is protection for employees with special protection, the due process is protected (based on article 540 of the Labor Code), and workers from both the private and public sector. This very summary process must be resolved prior to any other resolution. It is because of this process that the judicial authority is forced to apply such rules with legal consequences, in case there is any breach: that involves both any type of action or omission, like lack of service, with a disciplinary sanction that may be included.

It is important, for both the employer or employee, to know about this type of special protection, because any disciplinary sanction that is taken against people that are given this type of protection, must be performed via a special procedure.

If you require any type of advisory regarding Labor Law, ERP Lawyers has a specialized team for this subject ready to help. Do not hesitate to contact us.