Labor news for the beginning of 2023
This year brings with it two major changes in labor matters that should be considered by employers and workers, being the reduction of the maximum working day and the labor reform that is being drafted by the Labor Reform Subcommittee. The following is a brief summary of both issues so that they may be taken into account in the structuring of business strategies for 2023.
Reduction of working hours
One of the aspects to consider for this year is the reduction of the working day, established in Law 2101 of July 15, 2021. This law established that the maximum legal working day would be gradually reduced from 48 hours per week to 42 hours per week as follows:
Maximum legal working day | Validity |
48 hours per week | Until July 14, 2023 |
47 hours per week | From July 15, 2023 until July 14, 2024 |
46 hours per week | From July 15, 2024 until July 14, 2025 |
44 hours per week | From July 15, 2025 through July 14, 2026 |
42 hours per week | From July 15, 2026 onwards |
Regardless of the foregoing, employers may voluntarily implement in advance the 42-hour work week. In any case, the reduction of the workday indicated in the mentioned law will not imply the reduction of the salary or benefit remuneration, nor of the value of the ordinary working hour.
Regarding the maximum daily working day, the law did not provide anything in this respect, it only indicated that the 42-hour working week may be distributed, by mutual agreement, in 5 or 6 days a week, always guaranteeing the rest day, therefore the maximum daily working day will depend on the way in which the weekly working day is distributed, complying in any case with the payment of supplementary work or overtime when applicable.
Once the 42-hour working week is implemented, the employer will be exempted from the application of the paragraph of article 3 of Law 1857 of 2017 (family day) and article 21 of Law 50 of 1990 (exclusive dedication to recreational, cultural, sports or training activities during the working day).
Labor Reform 2023
Since October 24, 2022, the Ministry of Labor, headed by Minister Gloria Inés Ramirez, installed the Labor Reform Sub-Commission with the purpose of analyzing the proposals of the production unions, the labor unions, and the government for the construction of the new labor reform.
According to the Vice Minister of Labor Relations and Inspection, Edwin Palma Egea, the first meeting of the sub-commission of labor reform will be held on January 17 of this year[1], to continue with the dialogues that will allow the materialization of the text that will finally be taken to the Permanent Commission of Agreement on Wage and Labor Policies and to the Congress of the Republic.
Among the points to which the Minister of Labor has most referred in her interventions before the media are the gradual elimination of service contracts, especially those subscribed by the State, and the reduction of the working day until 6:00 p.m., which would affect the liquidation and payment of overtime and night surcharges.
Finally, it is important to note that the Labor Ministry has made available through its official website www.mintrabajo.gov.co a space for the different sectors to submit their proposals regarding the following points:
- Informality
- Rural labor
- Digital platforms
- Gender gaps
- Sex work
- Disability
- Forms of labor contracting - Formalization and employment
- Working hours (Daytime - Nighttime)
- Multilevel sectoral collective bargaining
- Implementation of international human and labor rights standards (ILO Conventions).
Likewise, interested parties may submit other proposals on labor issues other than those mentioned above through the same portal, so that they may be studied by the subcommittee.
[1] Press release Labor Minister, Positive impacts of the labor reforms of Argentina and Spain were socialized in the labor reform subcommittee, December 21, 2022.
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Carlos Andres Molano Camelo Managing Partner Colombia Bogota
