They approve an opinion so that unpaid labor debts generate interest in favor of workers

The Labor and Social Security Commission of the Congress of the Republic recently approved the opinion of the bill that regulates the calculation of legal interest accrued by labor debts and provides for its capitalization for the benefit of workers.

The purpose of the initiative is to regulate the labor credits established in article 1 of Legislative Decree No. 856, such as remunerations, compensation for time of service, indemnities, untimely payment of utilities, and in general the benefits established by law owed to the workers.

In this sense, it proposes that the legal interests generated by debts of a labor nature, accrue labor legal interest equal to the average active market rate in national currency, established by the Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and Pension Funds Administrator, and will generate a capitalizable legal interest in favor of the worker.

It also establishes that The legal interest on the amounts owed by the employer will be paid from the day following that on which the breach occurred and until the day of its effective payment.without it being necessary for the affected worker to demand, judicially or extrajudicially, compliance with the obligation to the employer or prove that they have suffered any damage.

However, he points out that if proves that the non-compliance of the payment that generates the debt of a labor nature was originated by an objective cause, by a fortuitous event or reasons of force majeure not attributable to the control or responsibility of the employer, no legal interest is generated.

“The liquidation of this right will be carried out by the same administrative and judicial authorities that know the corresponding claims, including cases of hostility from the employer or closure due to illegal stoppage attributable to the employer,” says the ruling.