The law contains a specific list of employer's obligations related to teleworking

The Social Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Estonia is discussing the draft on Amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which, among other things, prescribes several specifications regarding teleworking in order to ensure a safe working environment. The Chamber supports increasing flexibility in teleworking, but we sent two amendments to the Parliament of Estonia so that the new requirements would not lead to over-regulation.   

According to the draft, a separate provision will be added to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which sets out the obligations of the employer to ensure a safe working environment in the case of teleworking. In future, the employer is obliged to reflect in the risk analysis the possible risks related to teleworking and to take measures to prevent or reduce the employee's health risks. The employer must also instruct the employee before being admitted to teleworking, provide him/her with suitable work equipment, design and furnish the teleworking space, unless otherwise agreed between the employer and the employee, arrange for the employee to undergo a medical examination, investigate accidents at work and occupational diseases and pay sickness compensation. The employer must fulfill other unspecified occupational health and safety obligations only if this is possible taking into account the specifics of teleworking. 

Designing the teleworking space should not be the responsibility of the employer 
The Chamber of Commerce considers it positive that the draft clearly sets out the obligations of the employer in relation to teleworking. At the same time, the draft imposes a number of unreasonable obligations on the employer. In particular, we oppose the point in the draft that the employer must design and furnish a teleworking space, unless the employer and the employee have agreed otherwise. 

The obligation contained in the draft is reasonable in situations where the employer does not offer the employee a secure place to work and the employee works only remotely. However, in most cases, teleworking is used in a situation where the employer has created suitable working conditions for the employee at the employer's premises, but the employee prefers to work part-time remotely. In such situations, there should be no legal minimum requirement for the employer to provide two working spaces per employee. 

In addition, it remains unclear what is meant by the design and furnishing of the workplace in the draft. For example, does the employer have to provide the employee with a table and chair or also curtains, a kitchenette and a washing facility. The concept of designing a teleworking space also raises questions. 

According to the Chamber, the inclusion of the obligation related to the furnishing of a teleworking space in the law is an over-regulation. The employer and the employee can reach an agreement on the furnishing of the workplace even without amending the law, and to our knowledge there have been no major disputes between the parties in this regard. Therefore, there is no need for additional regulation and we proposed to the Social Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Estonia to delete from the draft the section related to the furnishing of teleworking space. 

The assessment of risks related to teleworking needs to be clarified 
According to the draft, the employer is required to reflect the possible risks related to teleworking in the risk analysis of the working environment and, taking into account the specifics of teleworking, to take measures to prevent or reduce the employee's health risks. 

The Chamber considers it reasonable and necessary that the employer, even in the case of teleworking, should assess the risks related to the working environment and take measures to mitigate the risks. However, in our opinion, it is not reasonable to require the employer to assess the risks separately for each employee and each teleworking space. For example, if an employee works remotely one day at home, second day in a cottage, third day in a restaurant, and on fourth day in public transport, the employer will not be able to assess the risks of each specific place of work. 

Since teleworking locations are not under the control of the employer, a reasonable solution would be for the employer to allow the risks related to teleworking to be generalized in the risk analysis. This means that the employer should not assess the risks of each teleworking location and per each employee, but should be able to identify the general risks associated with teleworking, such as poor lighting, incorrect working position and take measures to mitigate such general risks. 

The effective date of the changes is not yet known
The draft procedure is currently in progress in the Parliament of Estonia and more information will be available here. According to the draft, amendments related to teleworking shall enter into force in accordance with the general procedure, i.e. on the tenth day after their publication in the Riigi Teataja. The exact date of entry into force of the changes is not yet known.