Reasons why we do not agree with the Ministry of Labour’s interpretation of the calculation of the reduction of working time

Concept of the Ministry of Labour

• When the working week was reduced from 48 hours to 47 hours, the Ministry of Labour took the 47 hours per week and multiplied it by 4.33 (the average number of weeks in a month) to get the total hours worked per month, which equals 203.51 hours, to calculate the value of the ordinary hour.
• It then indicated that the monthly wage earned by the worker should be taken and divided by the number of hours per month (203.51) to obtain the value of an hour worked.
• This value will serve as the basis for settling and paying the corresponding surcharges.
• Ordinary hourly rate $5.699.96

Cardozo Ordoñez’s position

• Take the 47 hours per week that the phased reduction of working time envisaged and divide it into 6 hours per week corresponding to the number of working days per week. This results in a maximum daily working time of 7.83 hours.
• Then multiply the 7.83 hours by the 30 days of the month, which gives the number of ordinary working hours per month as 235.
• Then, take the monthly salary earned by the worker and divide it by the number of working hours per month (235) to obtain the value of an ordinary one.
• The value of the ordinary hour shall be the basis for the settlement and payment of supplementary or overtime work, night, Sunday and/or public holiday surcharges.
• Ordinary hour value $4,936.17

Basis for our interpretation

Our interpretation is based on the judgment of the Labour Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice in judgment 40016 of 1 August 2012 and the concepts issued by UGPP, prior to the reduction of the working day, in which they used the factor 240 to calculate the number of the ordinary hour which was applicable until 15 July 2023.

In judgment 40016 of 1 August 2012, the Sala de Casación Laboral (Labour Cassation Chamber), with the report of Dra. Elsy del Pilar Cuello Calderón, at first instance, ordered the payment of the night surcharges. Based on the following arithmetic operations, the value of the ordinary hour was obtained

• Salary May-June 2000: $1,688,400.
• The value of the ordinary hour was obtained by dividing the year 2000 wage into240 (which is equivalent to working hours for the month) which resulted in the sum of $7,035-Before 15 July 2023-.

The UGPP also used these arithmetic operations to obtain the value of the ordinary working hour, overtime and surcharges for years 2023:

• Minimum wage in 2023 $1.160.000
• The value of the ordinary hour was obtained by dividing the 2023 minimum wage by the factor 240 (which is equivalent to the working hours in the month), which resulted in the sum of $4,833 -Before 15 July 2023-.

In both situations, the factor 240 was used, which was obtained from:

1. Divide the maximum 48 hours of weekly working time by 6 working days, resulting in the maximum 8 hours of daily work.
2. These 8 hours are then multiplied by 30, which gives a factor of 240 ordinary working hours per month.

Currently, with the reduction of working hours, the maximum number of working hours per month increased from 240 to 235!