Decree 1174 does not seek to change “any form of contracting,” says Mintrabajo

Decree 1174 of 2020, which will take effect next year, has caused a controversy in Colombia. Some even point out that it is a disguised labor reform.

The Minister of Labor, Ángel Custodio Cabrera, assured that this decree was born from the article approved by the Congress of the Republic in the National Development Plan, in 2019.

Cabrera explained that the decree is not a disguised labor reform, but, on the contrary, seeks to protect workers whose monthly income is less than a minimum wage. Nor does it seek to “change any form of hiring,” he stressed.

“What does the decree do? From now on, every time that worker is paid for one or two days, whatever it may be, if these incomes do not reach the minimum wage, pay 15% towards savings for his old age. That is the purpose of the decree: to start this process of formalization. “

And he added: “The Government gives him 20% more to help him contribute to his old age.”

Likewise, he stated that formal labor hiring for less than a current legal minimum wage would have to be approved via the Congress of the Republic, “and that has not happened.”

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According to the minister, Decree 1174 does not seek to “violate the contracting regulations and the Substantive Labor Code.”

“The next decree that we are going to issue is that these contributions become listed weeks,” he said.

For Cabrera, for example, people who are hired by hours or days would benefit.

“Let’s not continue with 12 or 13 million people who are not contributing to the social security system in Colombia,” he reflected.

He also affirmed that with this decree the Government seeks to “begin formality.”

According to Cabrera, companies cannot change current conditions for workers based on Decree 1174.