In addition to the obligation to pay to the employees the amount corresponding to the interest of severance (January 31st, 2021) and deposit the severance corresponding to year 2020 in the fund chosen by each employee (before February 14th, 2021), employers must comply with the following:
1. Certificates accrediting interest and monetary correction, paid during the immediately preceding year for purposes and effects of acquiring housing, and health and education payment certificates. The company should ask those employees who have housing loans for certificates accrediting the interest paid, so that it can update/recalculate the tax benefit. In addition, the company should request health and education payment certificates corresponding to the last year. The company should collect this information by April 15th, 2021.
Furthermore, the company should ask its employees to provide a certificate to apply the tax dependent deduction set forth in Section 387 of the Colombian Tax Code. It is advisable that the company collects this information by April 15th, 2021.
2. Income and withholdings certificate. Every year, the company should provide its employees with a detailed list of payments made for all labor matters, together with the amount withheld in the immediate previous year on account of income taxes. This income and withholdings certificate should be issued by March 31st, 2021 and should be retained for a period of at least 5 years from the date on which it is issued.
3. SENA report. The company must establish, according to the legal parameters, the quota of apprentices that it should have and engage them in the company or pay the applicable quota. In addition, the company must inform to the Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje – SENA within the first ten working days of July and January or March and September, any variation in the payroll of the employees that affects the minimum number of apprentices applicable for the company.
4. Overtime authorization. Employers must require prior authorization of the Ministry of Labor once a year if their employees work overtime.
5. Service bonus. The service bonus is a legal fringe benefit equal to one monthly salary for each year of service. An initial 50% must be paid in June (no later than June 30th) and the remaining 50% in December (no later than December 20th) of each year.
6. Vacation and overtime records. The company should keep a special vacation registry, in which it should record the date when each worker commenced its employment relation with the company, the annual vacation, and the compensation received thereof. In the case of overtime work, the record must contain age, gender, and activity, number of hours worked indicating whether they are day or night, and the liquidation of the surcharge.
7. Legal committees’ reunions. The Occupational Health and Safety Peer Committee (once a month) and Coexistence Committee (every 3 months) must reunite and keep a record of the minutes of the meetings.
8. Footwear and dress. In accordance with the duty for which the employee was hired for, three times a year (no later than April 30, August 31, and December 20 of each year), the employer has to provide an endowment of one pair of shoes and one labor dress. Employees entitled to this benefit are the ones that earn up to twice the minimum legal monthly wages (for 2021 COP $2,029,960, close to US$596) and that have been employed for at least 3 months.
9. SG-SST Implementation. Companies must apply the evaluation according to the Minimum Standards, formulate the Improvement Plan and the Annual Plan of Occupational Safety and Health Management System for 2021. The entire SG-SST must be documented and comply with 100% of the requirements established in the Resolution 312 of 2019, considering that the Ministry of Labor will initiate surveillance and control over the implementation of this system.
10. Biosecurity protocols implementation and/or update. Due to the COVID-19 global crisis, during 2021 employers will have to implement/update the biosecurity protocols under the parameters issued by the National Government (Resolution 666, 2020, and any additional and specific biosecurity protocol issued by the Health Ministry).
11. Actuarial calculation report. All entities obliged to recognize and pay directly pensions and/or issue pension bonds, must at the end of each period, prepare an actuarial calculation in order to establish the present value of all future obligations regarding these matters. This report shall be submitted to the Superintendence of Companies.
12. Breastfeeding Rooms. Employers with capital above 1.500 minimum legal monthly wages (for 2021 COP$1,522,470,000, close to US$446,992.54), or more than 50 female employees, must provide a respectable space within its facilities, for lactating employees to extract maternity milk during working hours, under technical safety standards, to later transport it home.
13. Report of Vacancies to the Public Employment Service. It is an obligation of all employers to report every vacancy opening in their payroll, through a vacancy report to the Public Employment Service. This report must be submitted within the 10 business days following the opening. No report must be submitted for those positions that, due to their nature, are strategic or confidential.
14. Bi annual Workday for Family Purposes. Employers shall enable, promote and manage a bi-annual workday in which their employees can share with their families at spaces provided by the employer, or operated by the Family Compensation Bureaus to which employees are affiliated. If the employer does not manage to enable this session, it shall allow employees to have this space with their families without affecting remunerated resting days, and without prejudice of the agreement on a complementary (flexible) working schedule.
15. RUTEC Registry. The registration of foreigners in the RUTEC registry of the Ministry of Labor is mandatory for all entities of the public sector and private sector companies that engage or hire foreign personnel within Colombian territory. Registration in RUTEC must be done within a period not exceeding 120 calendar days following the execution of the contract or from the engagement date of the foreign worker.