Impact of the suspension of the employment contract on the legal incentive payment for services

Abstract

The effect of the suspension of the work contract on the legal incentive payment for services which must be paid to all hired workers in Colombia has been subjected to endless discussions and multiple interpretations. This is so because labor legislation, whether by omission or on purpose, does not mention what happens with the additional payment for services during the suspension of the employment contract. But, concerning all other legal benefits, those were indeed taken into account. Being this the situation, and in the face of a legal shortcoming, the Colombian business sector has been stumbling in uncertainty regarding this issue. This leads to a wrong application of the normative and directly affects workers’ rights.

This article is an updated research, where heuristics and legal hermeneutics have been taken as methodological ground. By means of collection and analysis of legal precedents from the Supreme Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court, the pronouncements of public bodies of control, and the doctrine and practice concerning this topic, the intention is – following adequate legal principles – to adopt a stance on this current legal problem in the light of Colombian law, to determine the affectation of the legal incentive payment for services when the employment contract has been suspended.

In this article, the reader may find the necessary arguments in order to determine the absence of any effect of the suspension of the work contract on the payment of the legal incentive for services, considering legal strictness and the nature of such social benefit, and in the defense of the rights of Colombian labor force.