Overtime in Colombia: authorization now has to be renewed every six months

This was communicated by the Ministry of Labor this morning. It is Circular 3031 of August 30, 2023, which obliges employers to renew the authorization that allows overtime work. This renewal must be made every six months.

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With this measure, the Minister of Labor, Gloria Inés Ramírez, cancels the validity of the authorization to work overtime after six months.

Likewise, the law seeks to protect the workers’ right to rest, since working overtime makes it difficult to disconnect from work and may become an obstacle to the exception for which the employer must provide due authorization.

Working overtime: what you must do as an employer

Firstly, Circular 3031 of August 30 provides for the mandatory action of employers to renew every six months the authorization allowing their personnel to work overtime.

Secondly, and as a consequence of non-compliance with the regulation, the circular includes the cancellation of the existing authorization after six months from its issuance. It also stipulates a series of sanctions for companies that do not comply with the regulation, i.e. overtime work is not duly authorized.

The resolution states: “in a recent pronouncement of the ILO [International Labor Organization] Committee of Experts, it presented observations for Colombia regarding the ratified conventions, indicating the need to establish limits on the hours worked per day and that overtime should be paid in a timely manner and that there should be limits on overtime at both weekly and annual levels as established in the ILO conventions. During the updating process, which will be free of charge, the document issued by the respective Territorial Directorate will continue to be valid”.

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Where to file the overtime work authorization?

If as an employer you wish to access the “Authorization to work overtime” procedure, please note that you must do so through the Single System of Information Procedures (SUIT).

This portal provides you with all the requirements for the procedure and a guide of the steps to follow. In addition, it provides a list of the points of attention, which may be useful during the process.

Please note that the portal will never issue an authorization to work overtime for an indefinite period of time, since the employer must guarantee that, if necessary, such authorization will be renewed within 6 months.

Authorization to work overtime without validity: Penalties

If the employer did not duly renew the authorization to work overtime, the regulation establishes that the Ministry of Labor may sanction the company in accordance with the non-compliance.

That is to say, the sanction will depend on factors such as the number of overtime hours worked, the working conditions of the entity in question and the effective date of the previous authorization.

For companies that already have an authorization to work overtime, the term of validity will be six months from the date of issuance of the resolution, i.e. from August 30.

On the other hand, for those who have not complied with the regulation, the Ministry grants a term of no more than two years to proceed with the authorization to work overtime.

Overtime in Colombia

The Committee of Experts of the International Labor Organization (ILO) has repeatedly expressed its concern about the under-recording of overtime worked in Colombia. According to its most recent studies, Colombia is one of the countries with the highest rates of overtime work without necessarily being paid or recognized.

Recently, the international organization also highlighted the importance of creating policies that facilitate the regulation and registration of hours worked within the working day and overtime hours that violate the fundamental rights of employees.

In the context of this request, the Supreme Court of Justice recalled that: “the right to rest is conceived as a prerogative of a superior nature, which allows the worker to temporarily separate from his work activities to enjoy others that provide pleasure, recreation, relaxation, which allows him to maintain the physical and mental balance necessary to achieve his fulfillment as an individual, strengthen his family ties and continue, subsequently, to contribute his services to the community”. Therefore, working overtime should be understood as a tool to be used in special circumstances, as long as the employee is duly authorized and remunerated. Find more information about the resolution here.

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