Colombia
Knowledge Base
Frequently asked question, important data and information on EOR.
General information
$ 1,160,000 COP per month
Labor Law
Laws that regulate Labor Relationship
•Political Constitution of Colombia
•Substantive Labor Code (CST)
•Law 50 of 1990 (amendment to the Substantive Labor Code)
•Law 100 of 1993 (Comprehensive Social Security System)
•Law 1562 of 2012 (Occupational Risk System
•Law 1610 of 2013 (Labor inspections and labor formalization agreements)
•International conventions and treaties
Onboarding guide
Requirements for a labor contract
• Name, nationality, age, gender, address of the employee and the employer
• Contract term
• Probation period
• The place where work will be done
• The working hours
• Salary
• Other working conditions, such as days of rest, vacations, and others that agreed between the worker and the employer
• Job description
Art. 23, Substantive Labor Code (CST)
Pre-hire Medical exam
Yes
Types of contracts
• Indefinite
• Temporary
• Contract for project or defined work
Probation Period
Maximum two months.
Are offer letters mandatory in the country?
No.
Are digital signatures in labor contracts valid?
Yes
Mandatory onboarding documents
• CV
• Identity Card (both sides)
• Pension Membership Certificate
• Unemployment fund Certificate
• Health (EPS) membership certificate
• Bank account certificate
• 2 Personal References
• 2 Labor References
• Certificate of Judicial Background
• Certificate of Disciplinary Background
Statutory benefits
Annual Bonus
One monthly salary, half paid in June and half in December.
Art. 306 of the CST
Additional bonus
Doesn’t Apply
Leaves (medical, maternity, paternity, etc.)
• Maternity leave: 18 weeks, one before the birth and 17 after.
• Paternity leave: 8 days
• Adoption leave: 6 weeks
• Voting Leave: half-day paid leave. The employee must show a voting certificate
• Bereavement Leave: 5 days of paid leave. Granted for: Parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, spouse or permanent partner, In-laws.
Annual Leave (days per year)
15 days.
9 days may be saved and spent the following year. (Art. 2.2.1.2.2.2 of Decree 1072 of 2015).
How do vacation days expire?
Paid at regular rate.
Official Holidays
• January 01 New Year’s Day
• January 09 Adoration of the Magi
• March 20 Saint Joseph’s Day
• April 06 Maundy Thursday
• April 07 Good Friday
• May 01 Labor Day
• May 22 Ascension
• June 12 Corpus Christi
• June 19 Sacred Heart
• July 03 Saint Peter & Saint Paul
• July 20 Independence Day
• August 07 Battle of Boyacá
• August 21 Assumption
• October 16 Colombian Roots day
• November 06 All Saints’ Day
• November 13 Independence of Cartagena
• December 08 Immaculate Conception
• December 25 Christmas Day
Law 51 of 1983 establishes for some holidays that, when they do not fall on a Monday, they must be transferred as a holiday to the Monday following the original date.
The remuneration for these holidays will have a surcharge of 75% over the ordinary salary; the Labor Code stipulates that an exception to this regulation will be made in the case of a 36-hour workweek.
Working on holidays and Sundays
Paid at 175% regular wage.
Substantive Labor Code (CST), article 179
Number of Working hours
8 hours a day, 48 hours a week
•Day Shift 6:00 am– 9:00 PM
•Night Shift 9:00 PM – 6:00 am (Paid 135% on day value / maximum work 36 hours a week)
Article 158
Overtime
Paid at time and quarter, or 175% for night working hours. Maximum 12 hours weekly.
Social Security (what does it cover)
• Unemployment insurance
• Pension fund
• Public health insurance (EPS)
• Occupational risks
Payroll
Salary payment currency
Colombian Peso (COP)
Can salary be paid in a different currency other than the local currency?
Yes.
Payment frequency
Generally monthly, sometimes twice-monthly.
VAT percentage
19%
Income Tax
Ranges from 0% to 39% for residents and non-residents For more information see https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/colombia/individual/taxes-on-personal-income
Tax Payer Identification Number
Single Tax Registration – RUT (Registro Unico Tributario)
Offboarding
Voluntary resignation
In Colombia there are two types of resignation: simple resignation (without arguments), and motivated resignation or indirect dismissal. The just causes for termination of the employment contract by the employee are outlined in article 62 of the Substantive Labor Code as amended by article 7 of Decree 2351 of 1965.
Just cause for motivated resignation are:
1. The employer lying regarding working conditions.
2. Any act of violence, ill treatment, or serious threat by the employer against the worker or members of their family.
3. Asking the worker to commit an illegal act or contrary to their political or religious convictions.
4. Any circumstances that endanger the worker’s safety or health, and that the employer does not agree to modify.
5. Any damage caused maliciously by the employer to the worker.
6. The systematic breach without valid reasons on the part of the employer, of its conventional or legal obligations.
7. Change of service or place without good reason.
8. Any serious violation of the obligations or prohibitions that concern the employer, in accordance with articles 57 and 59 of the Labor Code, or any serious fault classified as such in collective agreements or conventions, arbitration decisions, individual contracts or regulations.. The party that terminates the contract of employment unilaterally must inform the other, at the time of termination, the cause or reason for that determination. Subsequently, different grounds or reasons cannot be validly invoked.
Art. 62 CST
For a motivated resignation or indirect dismissal, the employer is obliged to pay the indemnity for unjustified dismissal.
For a motivated resignation a labor lawsuit will likely be filed and therefore it will be necessary to prepare evidence to support in court that the requirements of a motivated resignation are not met, or if after observing the case it turns out that the requirements of a motivated resignation are met, pay the respective labor indemnity to the employee in the shortest possible time.
Contract termination
The employment contract will end in the following cases:
• Mutual agreement
• Liquidation or definitive closure of the company
• Death
• Expiration of the agreed term
• Conclusion of work or service
• Suspension of activities for more than 120 days
• Enforceable legal sentence
• By unilateral decision in the cases of articles 7th., of Decree Law 2351/65, and 6th. of this Law
• If the worker does not return
Justified Dismissal
Causes for justified dismissal:
1. Falsification of documents.
2. Any act of violence, injury, mistreatment, or serious indiscipline committed by the worker in their work.
3. Any serious act of violence, injury, or mistreatment committed by the worker outside the service, against the employer, members of his family or his representatives and partners, workshop managers, guards, or warders.
4. Any material damage intentionally caused to buildings, works, machinery and raw materials, instruments, and other work-related objects, and any serious negligence that endangers the safety of people or things.
5. Any immoral or criminal act that the worker commits in the workshop, establishment, or place of work or the performance of their work.
6. Any serious violation of the obligations or special prohibitions incumbent on the worker by articles 58 and 60 of the Substantive Labor Code, or any serious offense classified as such in collective agreements or agreements, arbitration rulings, individual contracts, or regulations.
7. Preventive detention of the worker for more than thirty (30) days, unless subsequently acquitted; or correctional arrest that exceeds eight (8) days, or if the cause of the sanction is sufficient by itself to justify the termination of the contract.
8. Disclosure of confidential matters or professional secrets.
9. Unacceptable work performance.
10. Failure to comply with conventional or legal obligations.
11. Any vice of the worker that disturbs the discipline of the establishment.
12. Non-compliance with medical advice to avoid illnesses or accidents.
13. Failure to meet work responsibilities.
14. Retirement.
15. Contagious or chronic illness (not professional illness) as well as any other illness or injury that renders him incapable of work. Dismissal, for this reason, may not be made until after 180 days and does not exempt the employer from legal and conventional benefits and compensation derived from the illness.
Note: for Items 9 to 15 the employer must notify the worker at least fifteen (15) days in advance.
Unjustified Dismissal
• In fixed-term contracts, the value of the remaining time on the contract
• In the case of indefinite-term contracts:
(a) For workers earning a salary of 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, he/she shall be paid twenty (20) additional days of salary over the thirty (30) basic days of numeral 1, for each of the years of service after the first one and proportionally by a fraction;
(b) For workers who earn a salary equal to or higher than ten (10) legal monthly 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/she will be paid fifteen (15) additional days of salary over the twenty (20) basic days of numeral 1 above, for each of the years of service after the first one and proportionally by a fraction.
Severance pay
The severance payment corresponds to:
• Proportional salary for the current month
• Proportional amount of the statutory Annual Bonus
• Proportional amount of unused vacations
• Proportional amount of unemployment insurance (paid at the corresponding fund)
• Proportional amount of unemployment insurance interest
Compensation for justified dismissals:
• The time remaining for the completion of the work without in any case less than 15 days.
• The time remaining for the expiration of the agreed term.
• If the contract was for an indefinite term, there are several situations: (a). Workers who earn less than 10 legal monthly minimum wages
1. Up to one year of service = 30 days of salary
2. More than one year of service = 30 days of salary for the first year and 20 additional days for each year and proportionally by a fraction of the year
(b). Workers with 10 or more minimum legal monthly salaries
1. Up to one year of service = 20 days of salary
2. More than one year = 20 days of salary for the first year and 15 additional days for each year and proportionally by a fraction of the year.
Law 789 of 2002 and Decree 2351
Minimum Notice Period
15 calendar days.
Immigration
Visa process
1. The candidate must gather the required documents and send his/her personal data for the application and send them to us
2. Once the documents for the visa application have been registered, the employee must wait for 5 to 30 calendar days to receive a response from the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
3. Once the visa is approved, the Chancellery will issue a digital visa which must be registered with Migracion Colombia in the next 15 calendar days after the visa approval
Visa documents
• 3X4 photo with white background.
• Passport with identification data.
• Last stamp of entry or exit from Colombia (if applicable).
• Last Colombian visa (If applicable).
• Employment contract.
• Professional degrees related to the position (apostilled from the country of origin). ** in case they’re not in Spanish, an official translation must be made.
• Labor certifications relevant to the position (apostilled in the country of origin).
Note: The chancellery can request any type of additional document from either the company and the worker
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