Chile: Modernisation of the Labour Department

On 30 April 2021, Law No. 21.327 on “Modernisation of the Labour Department” (the ‘Law’) was published in the Official Gazette.

Law No. 21.327 introduced the following changes:

The obligation for employers to register the information contained in their labour contracts (including the circumstances of termination) via the Labour Department’s website, in order to allow for a more efficient exercise of the Labour Department’s powers of supervision, conciliation, mediation, studies and statistics, among others.

At the same time, the Law compels the Labour Department to legally communicate by electronic means; it also stipulates that all users may carryout procedures, actions and requests by the same electronic means; therefore, the Labour Department must implement an electronic system for these purposes.

In addition, Law No. 21.327 reformulates the labour mediation procedure and incorporates a new alternative within the various types of mediation, which, upon the Labour Department’s initiative, entails inviting the parties to a voluntary mediation. The Law also regulates the participation of external advisors in mediations.

Moreover, Law No. 21.327 creates the “Unit of Attention” in micro-, small- and medium-size companies (up to 199 employees), whose function will be to manage, in a specialised manner, the needs and requirements of such entities, in order to promote and facilitate compliance with labour and social security regulations.