The law in question relates to a number of issues such as: child day-care reimbursement; telework (prioritizing positions in this modality to employees who raise their child, stepchild or are child custodians aged up to 6 years old or a child with a disability, with no age limit); flexibilization of the working regime and holidays; measures for the qualification of workers; measures to support post-maternity return; changes in the Citizen Company Program; rules for formalizing individual labor agreements, and the new CIPA [Internal Commission of Accident Prevention]).
In regard to CIPA, article 32 of the aforementioned law altered article 163 of the Consolidation of Labor Laws, which now has the following wording:
Art. 163. An Internal Commission for the Prevention of Accidents and Harassment (CIPA) is deemed mandatory, in accordance with the instructions issued by the Ministry of Labor and Welfare, in the establishments or workplaces specified therein.
However, the adoption of preventive and punitive measures does not replace any criminal liability of the aggressor, under the terms of Article 216-A of the Brazilian Penal Code.
Thus, as of March 22, CIPAs must adopt measures that expressly establish rules of general behavior in companies in order to avoid sexual harassment and violence in the work environment.
Failure to comply with this legal determination to prevent harassment according to CIPA may subject the company to supervision and a penalty fine.
Therefore, it is important that companies adapt so that they can comply with legal determinations
How? One of the solutions is the elaboration, adaptation or updating of a “code of ethics and conduct” with clear and widely disseminated rules, as well as the provision of reporting channels and also eventual reception.
And as such, always preserving anonymity and confidentiality.
Is your company prepared? We wish you would be! Contact us.
For further information, contact Viviane Marraccini N. da Cunha, Attorney in Labour Law at Ronaldo Martins & Advogados: viviane.cunha@ronaldomartins.adv.br, tel. (11) 99123-4902.
