Through joint statement No. 004/2022, dated January 13, 2022, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) and the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) called on employers to recognize the permit for COVID -19 issued by the IMSS (the COVID Permit) for infected employees to access work disability.

The Head of the STPS, Luisa Alcalde Luján, expressed that, given the concern generated by the refusal of some employers to accept the COVID Permit, through which disability is facilitated in case of contagion, the authorities initiated a joint strategy to avoid said refusal.

The General Director of the IMSS, Zoé Robledo, indicated that the COVID Permit was implemented in March 2020, with the purpose of breaking chains of contagion and preventing people from having to go in person to consultations and then to the banks to collect their disability. Therefore, he appreciated the joint work with the STPS to identify the cases in which a test is required as evidence to grant disability, or those in which the COVID Permit is not sufficient. Likewise, he asserted, it is not a matter of opinion, it is a legal matter, for which all employers in Mexico shall assume it. He indicated that, as of January 10, 2022, the COVID Permit process can be carried out online, where by solving a questionnaire and without the need for a rapid test, said permit is generated as evidence for the employer that the disability shall be covered.

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