Practice area
Labor Law
Defense of workers and counsel for employers: dismissals, fundamental rights, collective bargaining and more.
What this area covers
- Fundamental rights protection claims
- Unjustified dismissal
- Constructive dismissal
- Employment immunity (fuero)
- Employment immunity removal proceedings
- Unions (formation and counsel)
- Collective bargaining
- Workplace accidents and occupational diseases
- Workplace harassment
- Self-termination for employer breach
- Maternity and parental leave
- Death of a worker
- Internal workplace regulations (drafting and review)
- Subcontracting
- Labor Inspectorate complaints
Frequently asked questions
I was dismissed — how long do I have to file a claim?
Sixty working days from the day you left, to challenge an unfair dismissal (art. 168 of the Chilean Labour Code) — and in labour matters those working days run Monday to Saturday. Filing first with the Labour Inspectorate suspends the clock, but never stretches it beyond ninety working days.
What is constructive dismissal and when does it make sense?
It is ending the contract yourself when it is the employer who is in serious breach (art. 171 of the Labour Code): you notify them in writing, copy the Labour Inspectorate, and file within the same sixty working days. If the court agrees, severance is paid as in a dismissal, with the applicable surcharge; if it does not, the job is gone without it. That is why it is a decision to weigh beforehand.
What am I entitled to if I am dismissed for company needs?
With a year or more of service, statutory severance: thirty days of your last monthly pay for each year worked and for any fraction over six months, capped at three hundred and thirty days for anyone hired from August 1981 onwards (arts. 161 and 163 of the Labour Code). If you were not given thirty days' notice, one month's pay in lieu is added.
This is general information about Chilean law, not advice on a specific case: deadlines and requirements change with the facts.
Other practice areas
Need counsel in Labor Law?
Tell us what happened and we will tell you whether we can help and how. Santiago and Valparaíso, Monday to Friday.