In ordinance N° 1057 of March 7th, 2017 Labor Direction reminds the Day Care benefits rules.

As a general rule, companies employing 20 or more women workers, regardless of age or marital status, should have day care rooms adjacent or independent of the workplace in order that women can feed their children under two years of age and leave them while they are at work.

The same obligation must be fulfilled by the centers or commercial and industrial complexes administered under the same social name or legal personality whose establishments are employing twenty or more workers, in which case the expense that means the day care will be understood common and all establishments should attend it in proportion to the other expenses of this nature.

In the event that the employer, for any reason, does not have a day care room in the terms set in paragraph 1 of the rule under study, he should pay the day care expenses directly to the establishment where the worker carries their children under two years of age to fulfill the obligation. The day care center must be determined by the employer, choosing from among those who, with the authorization of the National Board of Kindergarten, are located in the same geographical area in which the working mother lives or fulfills its functions.

Under these circumstances it is possible to state, according to the consistent case-law of this Service, that the obligation to have day care rooms can be fulfilled by the employer through three alternatives

– Having a day care room adjacent or independent in the workplaces

– Building or enabling and maintaining common services of day care with other establishments of the same geographical area

– Paying directly the day care expenses to the establishments which the worker takes their children under two years of age

Compensation:

Day care right can be compensated with an appropriate amount of money to fund the day care service in the following cases:

– When the employee works in a locality in which there is no establishment that has the authorization of the National Board of Kindergartens

– When she carries out her work in mining operations located in remote areas of urban centers

– If she lives apart from their children, in camps authorized by the company for such purposes

–  If she provides services in night time

– When the health conditions and medical problems that the child suffers advise not to send him to the day care center

This is confirmed in Ordinary No. 432 of January 25, 2017, which states: “Thus, to the extent that the worker is in any of the above situations, may agree with his employer a compensatory bond of day care, without implying, by the nature of labor rights, to waive such right.