Article 899-E Federal Labor Law

In the proceeding, the provisions of the first section of this chapter shall be observed, and in the cases in which benefits derived from occupational hazards or general illnesses are claimed, the proceeding shall additionally be subject to the following rules:

When what is raised in the claim requires the appointment of experts, the preliminary hearing shall be convened, and in the order convening it the official medical expert or experts it deems necessary shall be appointed, without prejudice to the parties being able to be accompanied by an adviser who assists them in the taking of the questioning.

The reports shall contain:

I.Data of the identification and of the accreditation of the medical profession of each of the experts;

II.Data of identification of the plaintiff, specifying the document with which his identity was proven;

III.Diagnosis of the ailments claimed;

IV.In the case of qualification and valuation of occupational hazards, the reasoning to determine the cause-effect relationship between the specific activity carried out by the employee and the state of disability whose qualification or valuation is determined;

V.The means of evidence on which the conclusions of the expert appraisal are based, including the reference to the medical studies to which the employee may have been subjected; and

VI.Where applicable, the percentage of valuation, of organic-functional diminishment, or the determination of the state of invalidity.

The Court shall take the appropriate measures so that the official medical expert or experts appointed accept and take the oath for the office conferred within the five days following the holding of the preparatory hearing, who shall indicate to the Court in a justified manner the requirements necessary for the issuance of the expert report and, where applicable, for the determination of the causal link, in the case of occupational hazards.

The Court shall notify the official expert or experts and shall issue the measures it considers pertinent to expedite the issuance of the expert reports and shall require the employee to appear for the carrying out of the medical studies or proceedings that the expert or experts require.

Within the thirty days following the holding of the preparatory hearing, the Court shall set the day and hour for the trial hearing, at which the expert report or reports shall be received with notification of the parties, with the warning that if they do not appear, their right to formulate further questions or observations shall be deemed lost.

If the plaintiff party does not attend the proceedings ordered by the Court, or if it abandons the medical studies or proceedings ordered, the lack of interest shall be recorded, in order that the abandonment of the evidence be decreed, except for the justified causes referred to in Article 785 of this Law.

The Court shall apply to the experts the enforcement measures established by this Law, to guarantee the timely issuance of the report.

The parties at the hearing for the taking of the medical expert evidence, by themselves or through a specialist in medicine, may formulate the observations or questions they judge convenient in relation to the considerations and conclusions of the medical expert evidence.

The Court may formulate questions to the expert or experts who appear at the proceeding.

The Court shall determine whether the causal link between the specific activity carried out by the employee and the work environment indicated in the claim was proven, as well as the occupational origin of the presumed occupational hazard, in order to qualify it as such.

The Court may require from the authorities, public institutions and decentralized bodies the information they possess and that contributes to the clarification of the facts; it may also request medical studies from public or private health institutions; carry out all kinds of consultations and inspections in the companies or establishments in which the employee may have worked and, if necessary, it shall be assisted by the opinion of experts in other matters.

The social security institutions shall make available to the courts a computer platform that allows access to their databases so that the court is in a position to clarify the disputed facts.

In the execution of the judgment the parties may agree on the modalities of its compliance.

In the taking of the medical expert evidence, the provisions of Articles 822, 823, 824, 824 Bis, 825 and 826 shall be observed insofar as they do not oppose what is provided in this Article.