Currently, as established in Article 161 of the CST, the maximum weekly working hours are 48. However, with the entry into force of Law 2101 of July 15, 2021, the maximum working hours were reduced to 42 hours per week.
This regulation provides two ways to apply it: an automatic one, where the employer decides to reduce the working hours immediately to 42 hours, and a gradual one, where companies are mandatorily required to reduce their working hours annually. Thus, (i) for 2023, one hour is reduced, i.e., a maximum of 47 hours per week; (ii) for 2024, one hour is reduced, moving to a maximum of 46 hours per week; (iii) for 2025, two hours are reduced, for a total of 44 maximum weekly hours; and finally (iv) for 2026, two hours are reduced, for a total of 42 maximum weekly hours.
It should be noted that each reduction must be implemented by July 15 of each year.
This modification to the maximum legal weekly working hours also changed the maximum daily working hours, since the new provisions do not contemplate a maximum number of daily hours, as currently exists, which is eight hours per day. However, understanding the purpose of this new regulation, it is suggested that the daily maximum remain at eight hours or a maximum of ten hours per day.
Likewise, with the weekly reduction, working shifts such as those contemplated in Article 165 of the Substantive Labor Code and those stipulated in Article 166 (continuous work shifts) are also affected, and such shifts must be adjusted to the new legal maximums according to the particularities of each type of shift.
Flexible working hours were also subject to modification. Currently, this modality is limited to execution during the daytime, i.e., from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. With the reform, this limitation disappears, and instead the maximum daily hours change from 10 to 9 hours.
The application of the reduction established in Law 2101 of 2021 brings two implications. The first is the employer's obligation to maintain contractual conditions, i.e., it may not reduce salaries or worsen established contractual conditions, and it must be clear about the value of the hour, since its implementation fragments the month, causing this concept to have two values for calculating other benefits.
On the other hand, this regulation contemplates exemptions for companies that, automatically or gradually, establish 42 weekly hours as the maximum. First, upon reaching the maximum weekly hours established in Law 2101 of 2021, the obligation to grant the semiannual family day disappears. Second, it contemplates the elimination, upon establishing 42 hours as the maximum legal weekly working hours and/or a gradual reduction through its application, of the cultural, recreational, sports, and training days for companies with more than 50 workers. It is specified that Law 2101 of 2021 maintains the procedure before the Ministry of Labor to request authorization for supplementary work and the obligation of economic recognition of overtime, holidays, or Sundays, and maintains daytime and nighttime shifts and the exception to the application of maximum working hours for certain positions.