On January 17, 2017, Guatemala became the first Latin American country to ratify C175, the Part-Time Work Convention of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The adoption of this convention allows employers to formally hire part-time workers while ensuring compliance and protection of the basic labor rights of these workers.

Before the convention was approved, Guatemalan labor law called for a fixed minimum weekly salary, which effectively required employers to pay workers for working full-time hours (44 hours per week) even if they worked only part time—creating a major barrier to the availability of part-time jobs. This principle can be found in the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala and Guatemala’s Labor Code.

The ILO convention recognizes and regulates part-time work and the labor rights of part-time employees. The convention defines a part-time worker as “any salaried worker whose normal working time is shorter than that of full-time workers in comparable circumstances.”

The convention requires that part-time workers have benefits equivalent to full-time workers in (a) maternity protection; (b) employment relationship termination; (c) annual paid vacations and paid holidays; and (d) sick leave. The convention permits cash benefits to be calculated in proportion to the length of an employee’s working time.

The convention also requires that part-time workers receive the same protection as full-time workers in regard to (a) the right to unionize and to negotiate collectively; (b) occupational safety and health; and (c) employment discrimination.

The convention requires that part-time workers receive equivalent benefits under social security plans as full-time workers. These benefits may be determined in proportion to the length of working time, income, or other methods consistent with legislation.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Congress of the Republic must review the current labor legislation and adapt it to the convention provisions. The implementation of the convention will take months to complete.

Comment

It is hoped that the ratification of Convention 175 will open new opportunities for part-time work and address Guatemala’s unemployment rate, which was 3.29 percent in 2017.

Written by Sara Santacruz, René Vicente Rodríguez, and Gabriel Bran of Carrillo & Asociados and Roger James of Ogletree Deakins