COLOMBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Jaime Trujillo, Juan David Velasco, Natalia Ponce de León and Angelica Navarro, Baker McKenzie S.A.S.
• daily overtime work (between 6.01am and 7pm) – 25% over the value of daily ordinary work; • nightly overtime work (between 7.01pm and 6am) – 75% over the value of daily ordinary work; and • regular night work (not overtime) – 35% over the value of daily ordinary work. Employers and employees may mutually agree on legally defined special flexible schedules or shifts that are tailored to the business activities of the employer and the duties of the employees. Depending on the types of schedules or shifts, overtime payments may not apply. Employees classified as direction, trust and/ or management personnel are not entitled to receive overtime surcharges. 4.4 Termination of Employment Contracts Generally, Colombia is an employment-at- will jurisdiction, as an employment agreement may be terminated by the unilateral decision of either of the parties, with or without just cause. Employment can also be terminated by mutual consent of the parties, by the termination of the fixed-term agreed upon or by failure to extend the probation period. For probationary purposes, the employer should provide written notification to the employee in the case of employment termination. In some cases, the employer must give the employee advance notice of no less than 15 days. These include where the employer termi - nates the employment agreement due to rec - ognition of a retirement pension if the employ - ee is still providing services. Apart from those very specific cases, employment law does not
require advance notice for the termination of employment contracts, except in the case of non-renewal of fixed-term contracts. Notice of non-renewal of a fixed-term contract must be provided at least 30 calendar days in advance of the date of the expiry term. If it is not, the contract will be automatically renewed. Employers must pay employees amounts due immediately upon termination (eg, salaries, out - standing vacations, accrued social benefits, outstanding commissions, and any other labour benefit owed). The exact amounts vary depend - ing on the agreed salary structure (eg, integral salary or ordinary salary plus mandatory benefits structure) and the termination scenario (eg, dis - missal for cause, mutual consent or resignation). Unilateral termination without cause will give rise to the payment of statutory severance. The for - mula to calculate the statutory severance upon unilateral termination without cause depends on the employee’s monthly salary, whether the labour contract is for a fixed or indefinite period of duration, and the actual time of duration of the employment. For indefinite-term contracts, the legal sever - ance for dismissal is as follows: • for employees who earn less than ten minimum legal monthly salaries (for 2025, COP14.235 million or USD3,560), the sever - ance is equivalent to 30 days of salary for the first year of service and 20 additional days of salary for each additional year of service, proportionally per fraction; • for employees who earn ten minimum legal monthly salaries or more, the severance is equivalent to 20 days of salary for the first year of service and 15 additional days of
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