Labour regulation in Colombia is within the guidelines of the International Labour Organization (www.ilo.org). The following information is the most important aspects of the Colombian regulation to take into account when hiring personnel.
Types of Labour Contracts
There are various possibilities to hire personnel. The types of contracts are the following; Indefinite Term Contract, Term Contract or Task Contract, the last two types of contracts have a determined time term. Meanwhile the indefinite term contract is used to hire personnel for an extended period of time.
For detailed information of every type of contract please see the Labour Chapter of our Legal Framework
Wage
It is necessary to take into account that in Colombia there is a Minimum Monthly Legal Wage. This wage is set annually and for the year 2010 is equivalent to COP $ 515.000 or USD $ 258. Taking into account a reference Exchange rate of USD $ 1 = COP $ 2000.
Work Day
The labour regulation establishes a maximum of 48 workable hours, taking into account that Colombia has the longest day shift in Latin America, from 6:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. and the night shift is from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., from Monday through Saturday. This structure allows two shifts of 8 hours each in the day shift, with no extra charge.
For the night shift the employer must pay a 35% surcharge over what he pays the day shift. For extra hours the following rule applies: if it is a day shift extra hour there is a 25% surcharge from the normal hour. If there is a night shift extra hour there is a 75% surcharge from the day shift hour cost. Additionally, extra time cannot overcome a total of 2 hours or a total of 12 hours in the week. Extra hours are only applicable to those positions that are not of direction, or high executives.
Other Payments
Finally, when hiring the workers, the employee will have to take into account the extra costs that are generated. The employer has to pay for the Retirement Plant and Health, for the retirement plan it is necessary to pay 16% of the workers wage, which the employer will have to assume three quarters of that 16% and an extra 12% for health which the employer has to pay two thirds of that 12 % monthly.
 Colombian Labor Legal Framework | [Complete information about the Colombian labor legal framework] | 49 Kb | 22/01/10 14:03 |
