Under Colombian legislation employees hired by their employers by means of an employment agreement are entitled to mandatory rest days, such as national holidays which are stated in the Colombian Labor Code.
According to Article 177 of the mentioned code, employees (…) are entitled to paid rest days on the following holidays, both of civil or religious nature; these are: January 1, January 6, March 19, May 1, June 29, July 20, August 7, August 15, October 12, November 1, November 11, December 8 and December 25; all of these in addition to Easter, Christ’s Ascension, Corpus Christi and Jesus Sacred Heart days”.
Furthermore, in the event that holidays such as January 6, March 19, June 29, August 15, October 12, November 1, Easter, Christ’s Ascension, Corpus Christi and Jesus Sacred Heart days, do coincide with a Monday (including Sundays), these will be moved to the next available Monday maintaining their holiday status.
It is important to mention that all employees regardless of whether they are classified as regular employees or management, direction and trust employees are entitled to enjoy their holidays.
Given their holiday nature, the law has determined that the employer will compensate the work completed on holidays with a surcharge of seventy-five percent (75%) calculated upon the hourly salary rate in proportion to the hours worked.
Please note that this surcharge is already included in the remuneration of those who receive an “integral” salary (“salario integral”) which is the one that includes the ordinary salary and covers in advance social benefits, surcharges, benefits, and concept agreed by the parties (except vacations)
On the other hand, in Colombia additional days of celebration to the ones included in the law can be granted (“Civic Day”). In such cases, the employer must pay such day as if it was worked, unless agreed otherwise in a private agreement, regulation, covenant, collective agreement or arbitration ruling.
