So far this year, the Labor Inspection Tribunal (TFL) Since National Superintendence of Labor Inspection (Sunafil) it issued three resolutions containing binding decisions on the following subjects: the principle of legality in the administrative sanction procedure; notification of information needs to the electronic mailbox; disciplinary measures and dignity at work; the evidence produced by the employer and his assessment; and, the principle of primacy of reality in the verification of overtime in the part-time working day.
These are Plenary House resolutions 001-2023, 002-2023 and 003-2023. The issues raised are relevant, but above all because of the nature of the decisions. This because the TFL approved them as administrative precedentss of mandatory observance. Therefore, these are binding criteria that must be followed and applied by all authorities in the Labor inspection system the day after the publication of each resolution.
As indicated, the authorities in charge of the work inspectionas well as the issuance of acts of counterfeitingfinal investigation reports or sanction decisions, must apply the criteria retained by the TFL before deciding to impute labor violations o determine the employer’s responsibilities; after which he will only conclude if he is not found responsible or if he imputes or applies the corresponding sanctions.
In this way the TFL aims to standardize the criteria that authorities must follow at national level, when applying the labor regulations and publish their statements. Its purpose is therefore to guarantee the effectiveness of the principles of equality before the law, legal security, good faith, prohibition of arbitrariness, good administration, legality and regularity of procedure.
It should be noted that, in this way, the commitment of the TFL why the labor regulations applied in the same way to similar cases and which is granted predictability employers, who are concerned or subject to the administrative decisions authorities of the Labor inspection system.
On the other hand, with the publicity of the binding criteria, workers and employers are authorized to learn about the application and interpretation of the labor regulationsand it will help them make decisions aligned with the criteria, collaborate with the Legal Compliance, determine the existing contingencies and, in this way, prevent or manage the labor disputes and the legal risks.
In addition, employers will be able to review how they have dealt with these matters and whether they are complying with the binding criteriathe impact of these on work inspection or in the penalty procedures that they have in progress, and update their legal defense in the corresponding cases.
For this reason, the criteria mentioned provide relevant information to employers for the improvement of the management of work inspection; but also warns them of the new labor inspections which could be activated on the basis of said criteria, and remain awaiting new binding decisions which could be issued by the TFL on other topics.