FTC regulated: Yes

Remarks

Article 45 of Labour Code provides that the employment contract can be concluded for a specified time, for the duration of the performance of a specific work or job, for an indefinite period or to carry out occasional, accidental or transitory work.



Valid reasons for FTC use: objective and material reasons

Remarks

See above article 45 of Labour Code.

Maximum number of successive FTCs: no limitation

Remarks

Article 46 Labour Code provides that the fixed-term employment contract must always be in writing and its duration cannot exceed three (3) years, but it is renewable indefinitely.

1. If, before the expiration date of the stipulated term, neither party will notify the other in writing of its determination not to extend the contract, not less than thirty (30) days in advance, it shall be deemed renewed for a period equal to the initially agreed, and so on.

2. However, if the fixed term is less than one (1) year, the contract may only be extended successively for up to three (3) periods equal to or less, after which the term of renewal may not be less than one (1) year, and so on.

(Paragraph) In fixed-term contracts of less than one year, workers will be entitled to vacation pay and service premium in proportion to the time worked, whatever it may be.

Maximum cumulative duration of successive FTCs: 3year(s)

Remarks

See above article 46 of Labour Code.

Maximum cumulative duration of successive FTCs: no limitation

Remarks

See above article 46 of Labour Code.

Maximum probationary (trial) period (in months): 2 month(s)

Remarks

Article 78. Maximum duration. The trial period cannot exceed two (2) months. In fixed-term employment contracts, the duration of which is less than one (1) year, the trial period may not exceed one fifth of the term initially agreed for the respective contract, without exceeding two months.

Excluded from protection against dismissal: No

Remarks

Article 80 of Labour Code provides that:
1. The trial period may be terminated unilaterally at any time, without prior notice.
2. Workers in trial period enjoy all benefits.

Obligation to provide reasons to the employee: Yes

Remarks

Article 66 of the Labour Code provides that 1. The party that unilaterally terminates the employment contract must state to the other at the time of termination the cause or motive that prompts it to make that determination, except in the event that there is a reservation clause pursuant to article 49.2. Subsequently, different causes or motives cannot be validly claimed

Valid grounds (justified dismissal): worker's conduct, any fair reasons

Remarks

Article 61 (1) of Labour Code provides valid reasons for termination of employment contracts: a) By death of the worker; b) By mutual consent; c) By expiration of the agreed fixed term; d) For completion of the contracted work or labour; e) for liquidation or definitive closure of the company or establishment; f) For suspension of activities by the employer for more than one hundred twenty (120) days; g) By final judicial decision; h) By unilateral decision in the cases of articles 7 of Decree-law 2351 of 1965, and 6 of this law, i) For not returning the worker to his job, when the causes of the suspension of the contract disappear.

Article 62 indicate the disciplinary reasons able to terminate the employment contract are a) false declarations on personal files; b_ Any act of violence, injury, bad treatment or serious indiscipline against the employer; c) Any material damage intentionally caused to buildings, works, machinery and raw materials, instruments and other objects related to work; d) Any immoral or criminal act that the worker commits; e) Any serious violation of the obligations or special prohibitions incumbent on the worker; f) The preventive detention of the worker for more than thirty (30) days, unless he is subsequently acquitted; or the correctional arrest that exceeds eight (8) days; g) disclosure of commercial secrets or confidential matters; h) Poor performance on the job; i) refusal to perform the conventional or legal obligations; j) Addiction that might disturb workplace; k) refusal to accept preventive, prophylactic or curative measures prescribed by the employer's doctor or by the authorities to avoid illness or accidents; l) he ineptitude of the worker to carry out the entrusted work; m) retirement or invalidity pension; n) contagious or chronic illness.

Prohibited grounds: pregnancy, maternity leave, filing a complaint against the employer, race, sex, religion, political opinion, social origin, nationality/national origin, age, trade union membership and activities, disability, whistle blowing, gender identity

Remarks

Article 354 of Labour Code also provides protection for employees against dismissals due to participation in trade union or workers´organizations activities, besides the guarantees provided by articles 405 and 406 concerning members of trade unions.

Persons with disabilities cannot be dismissed, according to article 26 of Law 361/1997.

Moreover, article 10 of Labour code provides equality of male and female workers. All workers are equal before the law, have the same protection and guarantees, consequently, any type of distinction is abolished due to the intellectual or material nature of the work, its form or remuneration, gender or sex, except for the exceptions. established by law.

Article 53 of the Constitution of Colombia forbides discrimination due to race, sex, religion, politicial opinion, nationality or trade union activities. Based on that, the Labour Code, article 143, also provides special protection particularly concerning equal payment of wages.

In 2006, it was enacted the Law No 1010/2006 that establishes rules to prevent, correct and punish workplace harassment (article 2, paragraph 4), in special regarding reasons of race, gender, family or national origin, religious creed, political preference or social situation or that lacks all reasonableness from the labour point of view. Article 11 of the same law provides protection against dismissals in order to avoid acts of retaliation against those workers who have made petitions, complaints and reports of workplace harassment or who serve as witnesses in such proceedings.

Workers enjoying special protection: workers' representatives, pregnant women and/or women on maternity leave

Remarks

Workers during pregnancy, lactation or maternity leave: Article 239 of Labour Code provides that no worker may be fired during pregnancy or lactation without the prior authorization of the Ministry of Labor that guarantees a just cause. Dismissal is presumed due to pregnancy or lactation, when it has taken place during the pregnancy period and / or within three months after delivery. Workers who are dismissed without authorization from the competent authorities, shall be entitled to the additional payment of an indemnity equal to sixty (60) working days, apart from the indemnities and benefits that there be a place according to your employment contract. In the case of the working woman who for some exceptional reason does not enjoy the mandatory prepartum week, and / or some of the seventeen (17) weeks of rest, she will be entitled to the payment of the weeks that she did not have a leave. In the case of multiple births, she will have the right to pay two (2) additional weeks and, in the event that the child is premature, to pay the time difference between the date of delivery and the term birth

Members of trade unions have job stability: Articles 405 and 406 of Labour Code

Notification to the worker to be dismissed: no specific form required

Remarks

Article 66 of Labour Code provides that the party that unilaterally terminates the employment contract must state to the other at the time of termination the cause or motive that motivates it to make that determination, except in the event that there is a reservation clause.

Notice period:

Remarks

There is no statutory provision concerning notice periods. However, a prior 15 or 30 day notice is required only in certain specific situations of dismissal with justified cause related to employee´ misconduct or low performance.
According article 63, concerning termination with prior notice, there are just causes for terminating, unilaterally, the employment contract, with prior notice given in writing to the other party, in advance at least equal to the period that regulates the payment of wages, or through the payment of wages corresponding to such period: A) On the part of the employer:

1. The fully proven ineptitude of the worker to provide the agreed service;
2. The systematic non-execution, without valid reasons, by the worker, of the conventional or legal obligations.
3. Any habitual vice of the worker that disturbs the discipline of the establishment.
4. The systematic reluctance of the worker to accept the preventive, prophylactic or curative measures prescribed by the employer's doctor or by the authorities to avoid illness or accidents;
5. The contagious or chronic illness of the worker, which does not have the character of a professional, and whose cure, according to medical opinion, is not probable before six (6) months, as well as any other illness or injury that qualifies for work due to more than said period; but the dismissal for this cause does not exempt the employer from the legal and conventional benefits and compensation derived from the illness, and
7. The others that have been foreseen, with this modality, in the contract, pact or collective agreement, arbitration ruling or regulation.

Pay in lieu of notice: No

Notification to the public administration: No

Notification to workers' representatives: No

Approval by public administration or judicial bodies: No

Remarks

The only situtions in which is necessary an approval of a Labour Judge for a dismissal are the ones concerning the workers who enjoy special protection.

Approval by workers' representatives: No

Definition of collective dismissal (number of employees concerned): According to Article 67 Law 50 of 1990, the Ministry of Labour can qualify as collective a dismissal when it concerns, within a period of six months, a number of entreprise workers, as follows:
- 30% of the workforce in entreprise employing from 10 to 50 workers;
- 20% of the workforce in entreprise employing from 50 to 100 workers;
- 15% of the workforce in entreprise employing from 100 to 200 workers;
- 9% of the workforce in entreprise employing from 200 and 500 workers;
- 7% of the workforce in entreprise employing from 500 to 1,000 workers; and
- 5% of the workforce in entreprise employing more than 1,000 workers.

Prior consultations with trade unions (workers' representatives): No

Remarks

Article 67 Act 50/1990: The employer, contemplating collective dismissals for economic reasons, must request a prior authorisation from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. At the same time, the employer has to inform in writing the workers about such a request.

Notification to the public administration: Yes

Remarks

Article 67 of Act 50/1990 that changed Article 40 of Decree-Law 2351 of 1965.

Notification to workers' representatives: No

Approval by public administration or judicial bodies: Yes

Remarks

See Article 67 of Act 50/1990: The employer, contemplating collective dismissals for economic reasons, must request a prior authorisation from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. At the same time, the employer has to inform in writing the workers about such a request.

Approval by workers' representatives: No

Priority rules for collective dismissals (social considerations, age, job tenure): No

Employer's obligation to consider alternatives to dismissal (transfers, retraining...): No

Priority rules for re-employment: No

Severance pay:

Remarks

Article 64 (a) of Labour Code. (As modified by article 28 of Law 789 of 2002, published in Official Gazette No. 45.046 of December 27, 2002.)

tenure ≥ 6 months: 30 day(s)

tenure ≥ 9 months: 30 day(s)

tenure ≥ 1 year: 30 day(s)

tenure ≥ 4 years: 90 day(s)

tenure ≥ 5 years: 110 day(s)

tenure ≥ 10 years: 210 day(s)

tenure ≥ 20 years: 410 day(s)

Redundancy payment:

Remarks

Article 67 (6) Act 50/1990: When an employer or company obtains authorization from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security for the definitive closure, total or partial, of his company, or to carry out a collective dismissal, he must pay the affected workers with the measure, the legal compensation that would have been due to the worker if the dismissal had occurred without just legal cause. If the company or the employer has a taxable net worth less than one thousand (1,000) monthly minimum wages, the amount of the compensation will be equivalent to fifty percent (50%) of the aforementioned.

tenure ≥ 6 months: 30 day(s)

tenure ≥ 9 months: 30 day(s)

tenure ≥ 1 year: 30 day(s)

tenure ≥ 2 years: 50 day(s)

tenure ≥ 4 years: 90 day(s)

tenure ≥ 5 years: 110 day(s)

tenure ≥ 10 years: 210 day(s)

tenure ≥ 20 years: 410 day(s)

Notes / Remarks

Notes

Article 64 of Labour Code provide rules for payment of indemnities in case of unilateral termination of employment contract without just cause.
In the event of unilateral termination of the employment contract without just proven cause, by the employer or if it gives rise to unilateral termination by the worker for any of the just causes contemplated in the law, the former shall owe the latter compensation in the terms indicated below:
In fixed-term contracts, the value of wages corresponding to the time remaining to meet the stipulated term of the contract; or the period determined by the duration of the work or the work contracted, in which case the compensation shall not be less than fifteen (15) days.

In indefinite-term contracts, compensation will be paid as follows:
a) For workers who earn less than ten (10) legal monthly minimum wages:
1. Thirty (30) days of salary when the worker has a service time of not more than one (1) year.
2. If the worker has more than one (1) year of continuous service, the worker will be paid twenty (20) additional days of salary over the thirty (30) basic number 1, for each of the year of service subsequent to the first and proportionally by fraction;
b) For workers who earn a salary equal to or greater than ten (10), monthly legal minimum wages.
1. Twenty (20) days of salary when the worker has a service time of not more than one (1) year.
2. If the worker has more than one (1) year of continuous service, he will be paid fifteen (15) additional days of salary over the twenty (20) basic days of numeral 1 above, for each of the subsequent years of service. to the first and proportionally by fraction.

According to article 67 of Act 50/1990, the same kind of indemnities shall be paid to workers who are dismissed collectively due to economic reasons or closing of enterprise, which might be reduced to 50% depending on the financial situation of the employer.

Compensation for unfair dismissal - free determination by court: No

Compensation for unfair dismissal - Are there legal limits?: Yes

Compensation for unfair dismissal - Legal limits (ceiling in months or calculation method): Article 64 of Labour Code combined with Article 67 of Act 50/1990:
a) Remuneration lower than 10 (ten) minimum legal monthly salaries: 1) 30 days, up to 1 year contract 2) 20 days (in addition to the 30 days of numeral 1), for each subsequent year and in proportion per fraction of year. b) Remuneration in excess of 10 (ten) minimum salaries: 1) 20 days < 1 year 2) 15 days (in addition to the 20 days of numeral 1), for each subsequent year and in proportion per fraction of year.

The Court might also add compensation if it has been proved that the dismissal ocurred for discriminatory reasons.

Reinstatement available: Yes

Remarks

Articles 408 of Labour Code provides that the workers protected by the trade union activities, according to articles 405 and 406 of Labour Code, who have been dismissed without just cause previously qualified by the labour judge can be reinstated by judicial decision.

Preliminary mandatory conciliation: No

Remarks

There is no obligation to try a conciliation before the proceedings, however article 19 of Code of Labour Procedures provides conciliation may be attempted at any time, before or after the claim is filed.

Competent court(s) / tribunal(s): ordinary courts

Remarks

According to Article 2 of Labour Procedure Code, the Ordinary Jurisdiction, in its labor and social security specialties, is competent to handle:

1. Legal conflicts that originate directly or indirectly in the employment contract.
2. Actions on union jurisdiction, whatever the nature of the employment relationship.
3. The suspension, dissolution, liquidation of unions and the cancellation of union registration.
4. Disputes related to the provision of social security services that arise between affiliates, beneficiaries or users, employers and administering entities, except those of medical responsibility and those related to contracts


Existing arbitration: Yes

Remarks

Articles 130 and 131 of Code of Labour Procedures permit the resolution of individual and collective labour conflicts through arbitration, provided that the arbitration clause must always be recorded in writing, either in the individual contract, in the union contract, in the collective agreement, or in any other document subsequently issued.

Length of procedure: 2.5year(s)

Remarks

Considered ordinary proceedings according to Estudio de Tempos Procesales, available in https://www.ramajudicial.gov.co/web/publicaciones/estudios-de-tiempos-y-costos-procesales

Burden of Proof: both

Remarks

The Labour Code of Procedures does not provide specific rules for burden of proof in the provisions related to handling evidence (Articles 51 to 61). Therefore, it is acceptable that the management of the means of evidence is set forth in the law and regulations pertaining to them enshrined in the articles 165 and 167 of General Code of the Procedures.