Introduction The domestic office is a new and constantly growing labour organisation in Brazil and the world, especially in the tertiary or service sector. In 2011, the Brazilian Law began to recognise the existence of telework, which represented an important step in regulating this new type of work. However, it is still very difficult to define what characterises remote work and to guarantee the labour rights provided for in the law on health and safety at work. The objective of this study was to review the contents of health and safety in the field of teleworking and the current regulatory norms.

Methods Bibliografic review at Pubmed, LILACS and MEDLINE databases, using the key-words ‘home-office’, ‘workorganization’ and ‘labour law’, in the interval of 1980 to 2016.

Results Home office work has many good points: inclusion of people with disabilities, reduction of operational costs and bureaucratic expenses by the employer, self-determination of working time and the reduction of travel time by the employee. Nowadays, the labour rights of those who perform their work at a distance are the same as those who go to the company headquarters, which will be responsible for occupational diseases and even accidents.

Conclusion The courts maintained a conservative view of home-office work in Brazil. In theory, this type of work must follow the labour law of formal work, being responsible for occupational diseases and even accidents. However, the big question is how to put all these guidelines into practice, how to supervise the duties of employers and employees, and how to guarantee labour rights, such as work accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to deepen our studies on the subject and make it legally established.