Employment Regulations
The Colombian labour market is highly regulated and focuses on the protection of employment rights. There are numerous legislative requirements for employers to comply with, depending on the type of employee and contract that is of concern, and compliance with Colombian labour and employment regulations is often costly and time-consuming. Labour law regulates employment relationships such as individual labour law, collective labour law and integral social security.
Key Factors to Consider When Employing in Colombia:
Regulations governing employment in Colombia:
- The Constitution
- The Substantive Labour Code
- The Social Security Regime
There are several important points pertaining to employment that must be taken into consideration by foreign investors and business owners who wish to set up their business operations in Colombia.
- Regardless of the nationality of the parties to an employment contract, all employment contracts are governed by Columbian law.
- Both national and foreign employees are legally bound to join and contribute to the Integral Social Security System
- Columbian law stipulates payments that must be considered as part of the base salary (such as commissions and bonuses) regardless of the willingness of parties to an employment agreement.
Employee Entitlements
Working on Sundays
If an employee works on Sundays, the employee must be paid at a surcharge of 75% of the hourly rate. If the employee works regularly on Sundays, the employee must receive one additional paid rest day per week.
Employee Protection and Anti-discrimination Rights
Law 1010 of January 23, 2006 defines, prevents and punishes all forms of labour harassments.
Annual leave
Fifteen days of paid vacation per annum. Employee must enjoy 6 vacation days for each year of service. The remaining days maybe accumulated upto 2 years.
Maternity leave
Twelve weeks of maternity leave , which may begin 2 weeks before the date of the expected child birth.
Paternity leave
The husband or the permanent partner will get 4 days of paid paternity leave, when only the father/partner contributes to the Social Security System and 8 days when both the father and the mother contributes to the Social Security System.
In both cases, the father or the partner should have contributed 100 continuous weeks to the Social Security System.
Bereavement leave
Up to 5 working days.
Medical Leave
N/A
Employment Termination
Resignation / End of Service Payment
Parties to an employment contract can terminate such contract by giving written notice.
Severance / Redundancy Pay
Severance pay shall be one month salary for each year of service or proportionately thereof, which has to be deposited in the severance fund on February 14 of the following year or paid directly to the employee at the termination of the contract ((Article 249, Labor Code modified by Article 21 of Law 1429 of 2010).
Termination of Employment
Parties to an employment contract can terminate such contract by giving written notice. Under a fixed term contract, the employer must provide the employee 30 days of notice.
Mass terminations require explicit authorization in writing by the Ministry of Labour.
