Tomada: 'ART bill to put us above many countries in terms of compensations'

Labour Minister Carlos Tomada gave a press conference today to reveal further details of the new bill the government is sending today to Congress regarding changes to ART labour risk coverage regulations.

Thus, the Minister explained that the draft bill “the government aims at establishing a labour compensation system that´s quite above the systems currently used by many other countries.”

Likewise, Tomada assured the bill was minded “as bigger controls of the ART must be conducted since we are going through tough times when it comes down to ARTs.”

Yesterday, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner detailed the bill regarding ART, whose main features of the bill include the fact that an applicant for compensation must now determine whether to lodge a legal complaint at a civil court or apply for compensation from the ART, the updating every six months of the sums to be paid and the establishment of a period of 15 days in which the sum must be paid.

In reference to the bill, Fernández de Kirchner said that “we decided to go for a practical issue: the compensation sums, which must be rapidly updated and distributed,” enabling applicants to receive their sums 15 days after the accident occurs.

According to the President, the amendment means that “nobody can pursue both avenues (legally or through the insurance providers), although nobody is preventing anyone from taking the issue to court,” but “whoever opts for compensation is not allowed to later take the issue to court.”

Fernández de Kirchner added that “fees for lawyers will be limited to 20 percent.” Previously, the amount paid to lawyers varied between “35-40 percent, although it reached 50 percent in some cases.”

“With this pact, we are protecting the interests of workers,” said the President, insisting that “we are establishing a method by which compensation amounts can be updated on a six-monthly basis.”

Fernández de Kirchner also announced the signing of a decree that will enable the creation of mutual ARTs, composed of associations of employees, business chambers and unions.

The Labour Risk Law enables the national government to create mutual ARTs, which are non-profit ARTs. On this, Tomada, said the President, who insisted that “the person who does not understand that we have to continually adapt does not understand what is happening in the world. This is a very difficult world, and we are ready to face the challenge of understanding it to avoid any negative impact on our compatriots.”