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On September 7, the Peruvian Congress passed the bill, following a petition of the Popular Agricultural Front of Peru (Frepap).
The president of Peru, Martin Vizcarra Wednesday, signed a modification of an employment bill to ensure the protection of working pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The bill out ruled a prior law and established that, during the pandemic, employers must enforce remote work for pregnant women and nursing mothers. If they cannot carry on with those tasks, their managers would assign similar ones or provide them a permit according to their condition.
On September 7, the Peruvian Congress passed the bill, following a petition of the Popular Agricultural Front of Peru (Frepap). Vizcarra signed the law and praised it in a working session with the Council of Ministers.
During the law's discussion, the lawmaker and member of Frepap Maria Teresa Cespedes stressed that pregnant women are among the most vulnerable groups during pandemic social and economic harm.
Want to know why it’s not working in Peru? Everyone meets in the Marketplace for food, 86% of vendors had COVID, up to 80% of people infected, 70% work in the informal sector, only 38% own a bank account so do their banking in person, 11.8% live in overcrowded homes, and more..
— Gus (@guswauchope) August 31, 2020
Peru's Ombudsman Office also praised the bill and said that it would oversee its compliance "in the current context of economic recovery and partial resumption of activities since the integrity and rights of the pregnant and nursing women must be preserved."
The new bill follows World Health Organization guidelines about ensuring the urgency of protecting pregnant women from contagion during the health crisis due to COVID-19.
Peru has been hard hit by the pandemic, with 835,662 COVID-19 cases, 33,009 deaths, and 723,606 recoveries from the virus, as reported on Thursday.
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