Colombia’s New Labor Inspection Model: ‘An Inspection With Purpose’ (Resolution 4179 of 2025)

00:00

24:53

Quick Hits

• Resolution 4179 of 2025 by Colombia’s Ministry of Labor introduces a new labor inspection model, “An Inspection With Purpose,” focusing on human rights protection and incorporating differential approaches across gender, disability, ethnicity, life stage, and protection against violence and discrimination.
• The model mandates unannounced visits and immediate preventive measures, prioritizing high-risk sectors to ensure compliance with the 2025 Labor Reform (Law 2466 of 2025) and promote inclusive and safe work environments.
• Companies may want to ensure that they have aligned their internal regulations, hiring processes, and occupational health and safety management systems with the new inspection framework to mitigate risks and prepare for unannounced inspections.

Labor inspection is no longer a purely administrative procedure—it is now designed to identify and prevent human rights violations in the workplace. All inspection activities will apply gender, disability, ethnic/intercultural, life-stage (age), and anti-violence and anti-discrimination approaches. Inspections will be conducted without prior notice.

Inspectors may order immediate compliance measures, including the suspension of dangerous activities, temporary closures, relocation of workers, and mandatory provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) and physical workplace adjustments. The model defines strategic inspection areas with emphasis on labor reform compliance, rural zones, strategic sectors, and freedom of association. Companies may want to review their internal regulations, hiring processes, occupational health and safety management systems (SG-SST), and labor documentation to align with Law 2466 of 2025 and the new inspection framework.

Refocusing Inspection: From Administrative Procedure to Rights Protection

Resolution 4179 of 2025 transforms labor and social security inspection into a mechanism for the effective protection of human dignity in the workplace. The Ministry of Labor has adopted a “refocused model” based on a preventive and technical approach—emphasizing guidance, document verification, and labor risk analysis—using inspection not only to sanction violations but to prevent them.

The model is guided by several core principles and categories, including human rights violations in the workplace, the in dubio pro operario principle (favoring the worker), workplace violence, gender-based violence, and workplace discrimination encompassing ageism, xenophobia, ableism, and racism. Differential approaches are embedded throughout, with specific protections for individuals in vulnerable conditions, as well as gender-focused and disability-focused protections.

Under this framework, inspectors are expressly trained and empowered to identify situations that may have previously gone undetected, such as gender-based violence and harassment (conduct causing physical, psychological, or economic harm), ageism (discrimination based on age, particularly against individuals over forty-five), ableism (barriers and unequal treatment of persons with disabilities), racism and ethnic discrimination, xenophobia (unequal treatment or lower wages for foreign nationals), and intersectional discrimination (violations based on multiple simultaneous factors, such as being a woman, of African descent, and young).

Return of the ‘Surprise Factor’: Unannounced Visits and Immediate Measures

The resolution reaffirms that all inspection visits—whether preventive, reactive, initiated ex officio, or strategic—will be conducted without prior notice. The “surprise factor” is conceived as essential to ensuring the real effectiveness of inspections, securing the evidentiary value of inspection activities, and observing the “operational reality” of the company without prior preparation.

During these visits, upon detecting imminent risks to the life, physical integrity, health, or safety of workers, inspectors may order immediate compliance measures, including suspension of dangerous activities posing health or safety risks, temporary relocation of personnel in cases of inadequate working conditions, immediate provision of personal protective equipment (PPE), physical corrections to the workplace (lighting, ventilation, signage, etc.), guaranteed access to occupational health services and psychological care, urgent implementation of SG-SST protocols, and cessation of acts threatening freedom of association where they jeopardize the existence of a union.

New Perspectives on Discrimination and Labor Practices

Resolution 4179 requires companies to go beyond merely having a formal internal regulation. Inspections will evaluate coherence between policies, practices, and differential approaches; effective policies for preventing workplace violence and gender-based violence; and the absence of explicit or implicit discriminatory practices—such as paying lower wages to foreign nationals (xenophobia); unequal treatment based on age, disability, race, or ethnicity; and intersectional discrimination.

Practical Implications for Employers and HR Teams

In light of the new inspection model and the 2025 Labor Reform, organizations may want to consider immediate actions to mitigate risks and prepare for unannounced visits, such as the following:

Updating the legal matrix and SG-SST: Incorporating obligations arising from Resolution 4179 and Law 2466 of 2025, including specific protocols for prevention and response to harassment and workplace violence (with a gender focus), management of psychosocial risks, and handling of discrimination complaints (based on age, gender, disability, ethnicity, nationality, etc.).

Reviewing and updating internal work regulations: Aligning regulations with changes introduced by the 2025 Labor Reform, particularly regarding working hours, rest periods, and disconnection time; enhanced protection for vulnerable groups; disciplinary and contractual rules consistent with the new legislation; protocols for preventing and sanctioning violence and discrimination; and union guarantees and participation mechanisms.

Strengthening the occupational health and safety management system (SG-SST): Ensuring up-to-date documentary evidence (policies, procedures, risk matrices, training records, PPE delivery, etc.) and periodically verifying physical workplace conditions (lighting, ventilation, signage, ergonomics, accessibility, among others).

Training leaders and middle management: Sensitizing and training area managers and personnel supervisors on concepts of ageism, ableism, racism, xenophobia, and gender-based violence; the scope of differential and gender approaches in human resources management; and the practical implications of Law 2466 of 2025 in daily management (disciplinary decisions, terminations, shift organization, etc.).

Reviewing hiring processes and labor relations: Auditing selection processes to eliminate discriminatory biases, ensuring that hiring, promotion, and termination decisions are supported by objective and documented criteria; and verifying general documentary compliance (contracts, social security affiliations, payroll, leaves, permits, social security system reports, etc.).

Preparing for unannounced inspections: Implementing internal response protocols for inspector arrivals (who will attend, what documentation must be available, internal communication channels), keeping labor and occupational health and safety documents organized and up to date at all times, and avoiding reliance on “preparation” prior to a visit.

Conclusion

Resolution 4179 of 2025 represents a profound shift in how the Colombian government conducts labor inspection, centering enforcement on human rights protection, prevention of violence and discrimination, and strict verification of compliance with the 2025 Labor Reform. The emphasis on unannounced visits, differential approaches, and immediate measures significantly raises compliance standards for employers across all sectors. Preparation is key to reducing exposure to sanctions, preventing workplace risks, and ensuring effective respect for workers’ rights in an increasingly demanding regulatory environment.

Ogletree Deakins’ Cross-Border Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will post updates on the Cross-Border, Workplace Safety and Health, and Workplace Violence Prevention blogs as additional information becomes available.

Lina Fernandez is an associate in the Boston office of Ogletree Deakins.

Peg Ventricelli, a practice assistant in the Stamford office of Ogletree Deakins, contributed to this article.

Follow and Subscribe
LinkedIn | Instagram | Webinars | Podcasts