So far, thanks to article 186 of the Substantive Labor Code, Colombians can enjoy 15 days of vacation after completing a year in the company. Now, Colombians are somewhat excited and impatient about the bill that seeks to extend the vacation period.
What is the initiative about?
The bill that since yesterday is being studied by the Colombian Congress seeks to extend vacations from 15 working days a year to 20 days off. As stated by Juan Carlos Vaca, one of the representatives of the peace seats, if the project is approved, Colombia would enter the average of the vacations of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Organization for Cooperation and Development Economic (OECD). Although no further details of the document were revealed, it is expected that, as in article 186, remote work will be included in the new bill.
Who submitted the proposal?
Germán Gómez, representative to the chamber, is the main promoter of the initiative. With the presentation of the project, Gómez affirmed that this would not only be an advantage for the employees, but also for the bosses and owners of the companies. “They are going to have a worker who will be emotionally well, focused on their work, proactive and much more productive,” said the congressman.
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How viable is the project?
The answer is quite ambiguous. We can focus on the fact that this is the first time that the bill has been presented, so we do not have a precedent that indicates if it would have a chance of being approved. However, we have already seen that the commercial sector is not very much in agreement with the proposal.
The president of Fenalco, Jaime Alberto Cabal, assured that Colombia cannot be compared with other countries with higher levels of development. “It would mean much more costs, it affects productivity and competitiveness. The argument that other OECD countries do so is because they have very high levels of productivity and competitiveness. Colombia still does not have it. The most harmful thing is to try to reform the labor legislation in force in Colombia in pieces,” said Cabal.
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