By the principle of TUTELARITY, which governs, among others, in Labor Law, the Labor Code, contains presumptions in favor of the worker, such as when the employer at the request of administrative or judicial labor authorities, does not exhibits the corresponding written employment agreement, CERTAIN CONTRIBUTIONS, EXCEPT PROOF, become THE WORKING CONDITIONS AFFIRMED BY THE WORKER (date of commencement of the employment relationship, place of service provision, position or category of work, working hours and salary amount, integration of the salary and payment conditions, etc.).
Therefore, in the triad of basic documents that every employer must have is the employment contract, as well as the Internal Labor Regulations and the Book of Wages. The written working contract must contain the name and identification data of the parties, the date of commencement of the employment relationship, the name of the position and enumeration of the most important activities to be performed, the place of provision of services , duration of the contract, the working day and the working schedule, the salary of the worker and his method of calculation, the place and date of celebration, and the signatures of the contracting parties, or failing the corresponding fingerprint.
The models of contracts drawn up by the Ministry of Labor, which they sell in some bookstores in the country, meet those requirements. However, they do not include clauses of true importance – protection – for the employer, such as those regarding situations of confidentiality, exclusivity, obligations workers’ special conditions depending on the category of work, justification of absences, sanctions – including just causes of dismissal that are not specifically regulated by law, etc . Therefore, it is recommended that employers include stipulations on the subject in the contract text. Said contract must be registered at the General Directorate of Labor, within 15 days of its subscription. The pecuniary sanction for the employer, which does not comply with the obligation to draw up the written employment contract and register it where appropriate, which is independent of presuming certain working conditions affirmed by the worker, is set between 2 and 9 minimum wages Monthly for non-agricultural activities.
Ministerial Agreement # 324-2019, of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, which entered into force on September 9, 2,019, contains the Instructions for the submission and electronic registration of individual employment contracts, so from On the 9th of the current ones, the employment contracts cannot be presented in physical form, in the Labor Registry Department of the General Directorate of Labor, or in the departmental delegations, but must be submitted electronically on the website of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, complying with the requirements that are required on the indicated page. The important thing for the Employer is that the contract contains clauses of transcendence such as those listed in bold before.
AUTHOR: M.A. JUAN CARLOS PINILLOS GARCIA
DIRECTOR PARTNER OF LABOR LAW
CENTRAL LAW
Guatemala
