Some considerations on the new labour reform bill presented on 24 August 2023.
1. Job immobility
The biggest impact that the labour reform may have is on the issue of immovability, i.e. the almost impossible option for the employer to be able to terminate an employment contract with or without just cause.
Noting that if there is a reason for dismissal, a procedure must be followed, which is correct and is currently done, but if the dismissed employee sues and the judge declares that it was a discriminatory dismissal, it will be ineffective and the employee will be able to choose between reinstatement or payment of the legal indemnity.
2. Increase in the value of the compensation for termination without just cause
On this aspect, the amount of compensation for unilateral termination of the contract without just cause could be considerably increased, as follows:
Fixed-term contracts or contracts for work or labour of at least 45 days.
Indefinite-term contracts for a minimum of 35 days and up to 60 days for each subsequent year, when the employee has 10 or more years of seniority.
3. Reduction of working hours
Maintains the gradual reduction of working hours established in Law 2101 of 2021 and establishes a maximum daily working time of 8 hours.
4. Family day and recreational, cultural and training activities.
It ratifies this obligation under the terms of the laws that created them, i.e. it eliminates the possibility for the employee to be exempted from them due to the reduction of the maximum legal working hours.
5. Daytime
The day shift would be from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on the same day, then the night surcharge would apply from 7:00 p.m. onwards.
6. Indefinite-term contract
This is the general hiring rule for employees. Revives the 30-day notice period at the employees’ expense for termination, except for causes attributable to the employer.
7. Fixed-term contracts
Exceptional hiring modality to meet temporary needs which must be included in the text of the employment contract. Duration from 1 month to a maximum of 3 years.
With regard to contracts for specific work and labour, it is compulsory for them to be in writing and to specify the work or labour.
In the event of non-compliance with the requirements in these modalities, the contract shall be deemed to have been concluded for an indefinite term from the beginning of the employment relationship.
8. Disciplinary due process
The procedure for imposing disciplinary sanctions and for unilaterally terminating employment contracts with just cause is regulated, imposing a maximum term of 30 days.
9. Moratorium sanction
The two-year limit set out in Article 65 of the CST is eliminated.
10. Sunday and public holiday surcharge
It is proposed that Sundays and public holidays should be remunerated with a surcharge of 100% and not 75% as at present, but gradually, starting in 2024 at 80%, in 2025 at 90% and from 2026 the surcharge will be 100%.
11. Apprenticeship contract
It would convert the apprenticeship relationship into an employment relationship governed by the rules of the employment contract.
12. New licences – Art 57 numeral 6 CST
Includes medical appointments, incapacitating menstrual cycles, school matters of children or minor members of the family, judicial or administrative situations such as paid leave at the employer’s expense.
13. Paternity leave
It is intended to gradually increase paternity leave to 12 weeks by 2026.
14. Migrant workers
The aim is to get migrants into employment and then formalise their migration status.
15. Limits to Subordination – Prohibition of Discrimination
Subordination must respect differences based on sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, colour, ethnicity, national origin, disability, family status, age, economic status, health status, political or religious preferences, among others.
Harassment or violence in labour relations is understood as a set of behaviours or practices, whether they occur once or repeatedly.
16. Permission to terminate a contract. Worker with enhanced job stability.
In cases where there is enhanced employment stability and the employment contract is to be terminated, authorisation must be sought from the administrative or judicial authority.
17. Limits on the use of service contracts
It ratifies the prohibition to enter into this type of contract with natural persons, to carry out subordinate activities and in the event of a declaration of a reality contract, the moratorium indemnity of Article 65 of the CST must be recognised without the need to prove bad faith.
18. New forms of employment contracts
Agricultural work, workers in digital delivery platforms, workers in the arts and culture, professional sportsmen and trainers, activities in the port, transport or supply sector, domestic work, family and community work.
19. Temporary service companies
If the time limit is exceeded or used for a purpose other than the purpose of the rule, the user company is deemed to be the real employer.
20. Remote working arrangements
- Revive home-based work
- It extends the modalities of telework and creates the modality of transnational telework, allowing the provision of the service outside the national territory.
- Connectivity allowance replaces legal transport subsidy in teleworking.
21. Trade union affairs
Se fomenta la creación de sindicatos, especialmente los de gremios e industria, dando más garantías y prerrogativas a sus bases y dirigentes con el tema de los fueros, y buscando que la negociación sea por gremio y cuando se logre, el acuerdo se aplique a todas las empresas de esa actividad o rama. It enshrines the right to strike indefinitely, in solidarity, as well as in public services. New presumptions of union persecution have also been created.
22. Collective agreements
It prohibits the conclusion of collective agreements and their extensions.