#Honduras 🇭🇳 #BDS_Article: Telework Labor Regime in Honduras
In an effort to modernize its labor market and address the work-related challenges in the digital...
In Honduran labor practice, it has become increasingly common for employees to submit medical leave certificates issued by private physicians as justification for workplace absences. However, a pattern of abuse has been identified in which such certificates are obtained without an actual medical diagnosis, and in some cases, are issued with different diagnoses, with the aim of circumventing employer controls and obligations.
The Temporary Certified Medical Leaves Regulations of the Honduran Social Security Institute (IHSS), approved in 2020, establish that during the first three (3) days of temporary certified medical leave, the employer is required to pay the employee’s full salary, and that, as of the fourth day, the employee is entitled to be paid the social security allowance, subject to the applicable contribution ceiling.
When a new certified medical leave is submitted for the same diagnosis within a 30-day period, the employer may require the employee to report to the IHSS, which may confirm the continuation of the medical leave. However, if the new medical leave is submitted with a different diagnosis, even within that same period, the employer is once again required to cover the first three days, thereby creating a repeated financial burden and fostering practices involving the simulation or rotation of diagnoses to avoid IHSS verification.
This insufficient regulation, far from protecting genuinely disabled employees, encourages a distortion of the system. Companies are adversely affected in terms of operations and labor costs, without having clear legal mechanisms to verify or reject private medical certificates that do not originate from the public system.
In conclusion, while Honduran law provides a coverage scheme for temporary medical leaves, its current design has allowed for improper practices and abuse in the use of private medical leave certificates, particularly through the issuance of documents with varying diagnoses within short time frames.
A regulatory reform or clarification is urgently needed to provide employers with objective verification tools, prevent fraudulent use of this benefit, and ensure that medical leave certificates reflect actual health conditions of the employee.
Marielos Acosta
Lawyer , BDS Asesores
