On May 09, 2018, the Ministry of Labor issued the Resolution 2021 by means of which it establishes guidelines with respects to the Inspection, Surveillance and Control performed before the content of article 63 of Law 1429 of 2010 (the “Resolution). The referred provision prohibits the engagement of permanent missionary activities with Labor Cooperatives or under any other modality that affects the constitutional and legal rights of the employees.

By means of the Resolution, the Ministry of Labor defined the labor intermediation and established that the Regional Headquarters in charge of the Inspection, Surveillance and Control will impose the corresponding sanctions before the engagement with Labor Cooperatives or Pre-Cooperatives or under any other modality that affects the constitutional and legal rights of the employees, through the development of illegal intermediation activities. 

Thus, the Ministry determined that the Regional Headquarters must identify the engagement scheme with third parties and, in the event of the execution of agreements with independent services contractors, it will analyze, among others, the following: 

1. If the contractor’s employee performs the same or substantially the same duties as the ones performed by the contracting party’s employees and to which kind of duties they correspond within the contracting party’s activities. 
2. If the contractor’s current employees have been employees of the contracting party or of any other contractor that the contracting party has had. 
3. If the contractor has autonomy in the usage of the production means in the execution of the hired processes or sub-processes.
4. If the contractor executes over its employees the regulatory and disciplinary powers or, if on the contrary, this is performed by the contracting party.  
5. If the contractor and the contracting party incur in behaviors that violate the principles and rules in relation with the execution or development of the figure that bonds them. 

Finally, the Resolution establishes the cases of illegal labor intermediation when engaging with Temporary Employment Agencies, Labor Cooperatives and Pre-Cooperatives, Independent Contractors, Union Agreements and when providing placement services.