Referring to
Olegs Kolesnikovs, lawyer <a target="_blank" href="https://inlatplusinter.lv/eng/homepage/" title="Link: https://inlatplusinter.lv/lat/sakums/">SIA “INLAT PLUS international”</a>, in March,
2020 the Ministry of Welfare addressed enterprisers, suggesting they should
move their staff work to remote work regime as one of the options to cut the
staff expenses and also to protect the staff from contracting COVID-19 virus.
Data by Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia show that before the state of emergency
was declared, 19,000 people worked remotely, afterwards - 148,000. Oļegs
Koļesņikovs has no doubt after cancellation of the state of emergency many
companies will still prefer remote work which allows them cutting the office
expenses. However, in contrast to working in office, when doing their job from
home, employees incur higher costs for their public utilities (power, water
etc.) and communication services (phone, internet) which are to be paid on
their expense. Oļegs Koļesņikovs explains specifics and compensations regarding
remote work.<h2>What is remote work</h2>Remote work is a type of work
characterized by an employee doing his/her job, while being away from the
office and submitting the work results to his/her employee via internet. The
concept of this type of work was made up by Jack Niles, who in 1972 argued that
there is no need to keep staff at office, when nowadays there are sufficient
communication means to allow contacting among staff members remotely. For this
theory to be tested in practice, Jack Niles carried out experiments in
University of South Carolina. As a result of these experiments, a conclusion
was made, funding was provided by National Science Foundation and authorities
showed interest in developing the idea of remote work, as it could solve the
common issue of transportation in cities. The innovative type of work could
solve these issues, by giving job to people from remote rural areas.As of July 1st,
2020 amendments of Labour Protection Law come into effect, which define
"remote work". As per the new edition of the law, remote work is a
type of work where an employee is able to perform his/her job individually or
on a regular basis outside the company, including work via information and
communication technologies. The following criteria should be met:• Job can be
done at the employer's company or outside it (for instance, at home, shared
workplace, in private of public premises);• The employee
works remotely on a continuous or regular basis; Remote work
does not refer to cases, when the employee carries out his/her job during the
state of emergency. For example, if a company experiences internet
disconnection and therefore the staff is asked to work from home, until the
trouble is fixed;• there is a
written agreement made between the employee and the employer regarding remote
work.If job by its
nature does not involve movement on a regular basis, such as transportation,
visits to customers or business trip, it cannot be considered remote work, as
the law stipulates. <h2>Analysis of standard labour contract</h2><a target="_blank" href="https://likumi.lv/ta/id/26019-darba-likums">Labour law</a> (LL) stipulates that the employer and employee define their
legal relationship through signing employment contract and by mutual agreement
they are entitled to make some contractual amendments. It means, that, if
necessary, they can agree on some changes in the employment contract in order
to solve situations caused as a result of COVID-19 virus spread. Changes in
employment contract, if made, should be voluntary.Because there has been a rise
in demand for consultations on employment rights, <a target="_blank" href="https://inlatplusinter.lv/eng/homepage/" title="Link: https://inlatplusinter.lv/lat/sakums/">“INLAT PLUS international”</a> law firm offers analysis of
standard <a target="_blank" href="https://inlatplusinter.lv/lat/zinas/darbs-attalinati-nianses-un-kompensacijas/" title="Link: https://inlatplusinter.lv/lat/zinas/darbs-attalinati-nianses-un-kompensacijas/">contract</a> in order to clarify
relationships between an employee and employer in case of remote work. One should understand that in
many cases the <a target="_blank" href="https://inlatplusinter.lv/lat/zinas/darbs-attalinati-nianses-un-kompensacijas/">contract</a> is an insufficient source of
information on the contracting parties. Section 40 of <a target="_blank" href="https://likumi.lv/ta/id/26019-darba-likums" title="Link: https://likumi.lv/ta/id/26019-darba-likums">Labour Law</a> stipulates that an
employment contract shall include only the basic information In addition to
employment contract employment relationships can be regulated by working
regulations and internal orders. Surely, remote work is
different from work in company premises. Nevertheless, an employee should be
aware that every condition of employment contract remains unchanged and valid,
while the solely difference is the place of performing the job. As usually,
work should be started at the determined time, communication should be
maintained with the employer and terms of privacy should be followed, so that
no third party intervenes in the work process. The employer is entitled to
define on his/her own, how remote work would be organized for his/her
employees. It is recommendable to fix such terms in a document. It should be
considered that informing the staff timely on the new terms helps ensuring the
necessary work order. Section 76 states that the
employer should cover the expenses for doing the job. When working remotely,
nothing changes and the employee has rights to have his/her work expenses
recompensed. This refers to the expenses caused in future, as well. One should
remember that an approval by the employer should be given accordingly. Expenses
for expensive office furniture are not to be repaid, yet the employer must
recompense bills (internet, power), because the employee uses his/her
resources, when working at household environment. Unfortunately, there are
common situations where there are no internal terms and directions in place and
the employment contract does not contain anything in specific, and instead of
listing rights and obligations, there is a reference made to laws and
regulations. In such cases a legal consultation should help. The same goes for
workplace disputes that could lead to court proceedings. In assistance of a
lawyer you will be able to protect your rights and interests properly. Laws and regulations lack
specific answers to questions on processing employment relationships and compensations.
It is accepted that expenses of an employee can be recompensed, if he/she works
outside the office. Expenses can be recompensed, if they are proportionate, the
estimated sum of compensation is accurate and the link to the economic activity
of the company is identified clearly. Explanations of reasons for these
expenses on the basis of economic reality are defined and laid down legally
within the company internally. Subparagraph 18.2 2
of terms No. 899 by Cabinet "Procedures of applying norms of Personal
Income Law” stipulates that incomes that are exempted from payroll tax include
benefits and payments by the employer related to expenses the employee has
incurred due to doing his/her job duties, as well as payments by the employer
to recompense the employee's expenses, which are considered employer's costs
according to Corporate Income Tax Law and Personal Income Tax Law.In cases, when the employee
performs his/her job outside the office due to its characteristics, while the
employer recompenses the expenses incurred to the employee that are considered
the employer's costs, they are exempted from personal income tax (PIT) and the
compulsory social security contributions (CSSC).In this situation the
employee's recompensed expenses are exempted from taxes, as they are considered
costs of company's economic activity and there is no requirement to submit any
report to SRS on sums paid to a natural person, nor it is required to declare
them to SRS in any other way. We would like to remind you
that the company should give clear grounds for such expenses, their amount and
their link to economic activity.The recompensed sum of expenses can be justified by the
following points:<ul>
 <li>Workplace
 parameters are identified in agreements on non-recompense use (a property
 part is identified (proportion) from the total property);</li>
 <li>Expenses
 are recompensed on proportionality basis, considering the property part
 and regularity, for example, if 10% of total property is given for
 non-recompense use, the compensation sum must not exceed 10% from the
 total public utility payments. </li>
</ul>It should be noted that
most of the staff will be willing to resume office work in future, as humans
are social beings. For many people, going to work and meeting work colleges
mean no less than the salary. Work gives them opportunity to interact with interesting
people and for many being at work evokes strong and positive emotions.
Isolation brings joy only in deeply introverted people, while for majority of
people being at office comprises an important social act. 



























































<a target="_blank" href="https://inlatplusinter.lv/eng/homepage/" title="Link: https://inlatplusinter.lv/lat/sakums/">“INLAT PLUS international”</a> offers
professional legal services also remotely via “Viber”, “Skype” and “Whatsapp”
applications, and also provides consultations free of charge.

Law Office “INLAT PLUS international”, biznesa konsultācijas

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Referring to Olegs Kolesnikovs, lawyer SIA “INLAT PLUS international”, in March, 2020 the Ministry of Welfare addressed enterprisers, suggesting they should move their staff work to remote work regime as...

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