Employment Contract Termination: Notice Periods and Compensation in Argentina
Article 231: Time Limits (Law 25.877)
The employment contract may not be dissolved by the will of one party, without prior notice, or failing that, compensation in addition to that corresponding to the worker for their seniority in employment when the contract is dissolved by the will of the employer. When the parties have not determined a longer term, the notice must be given in advance as follows:
- a) By the worker, fifteen (15) days.
- b) By the employer, fifteen (15) days when the worker is in a probationary period; one (1) month when the worker has a length of employment not exceeding five (5) years, and two (2) months when it is greater.
Article 232: Alternative Compensation
A party who fails to give notice, or does so insufficiently, must pay the other compensation equivalent to the remuneration that would correspond to the employee during the periods indicated in Article 231.
Article 233: Beginning of Period – Integrating Compensation with Salaries for the Month of Dismissal (Law 25.877)
The terms of Article 231 shall begin from the day following the notification of the notice. When the termination of the employment contract arranged by the employer takes place without notice and the date does not coincide with the last day of the month, the compensation due to the worker in lieu of notice shall consist of a sum equal to the wages for the missing days until the last day of the month in which the dismissal occurred. The integration of the month of dismissal shall not apply when the termination occurs during the probationary period established in Article 92 bis.
Article 234: Withdrawal
The dismissal may not be withdrawn unless agreed upon by the parties.
Article 235: Evidence
The notification must be proven by written notice.
Article 236: Extinction – Waiver of Deadline Missing – Exemption from the Obligation to Serve
When the notice has been given by the employer, the worker may consider the employment contract terminated before the expiry of the term without the right to remuneration for the missing period of notice, but they shall retain the right to receive such compensation as may be appropriate under the dismissal. This demonstration must be made as provided in Article 240. The employer may relieve the employee of the obligation to provide services during the notice period, paying the amount of wages due.
Article 237: Daily License
Except as provided in the last part of Article 236, during the notice period, the employee is entitled, without reduction of wages, to enjoy a license of two (2) hours per day within the legal hours of work. They can choose from the first two or the last two hours of the day. The worker may also choose to accumulate the licensing hours in one or more full days.
Article 238: Obligations of the Parties
During the course of the notice period, the obligations under the contract shall remain in effect.
Article 239: Efficiency
The notice served on the worker while providing service that is suspended for any of the grounds referred to in this law that entitle the worker to payment of wages, shall have no effect unless it was expressly granted to begin to run from the time that the cause for suspension of services ceases. When notification is made during a suspension of services that does not earn wages on behalf of the employee, the notice shall be valid, but from the notification of the same until the end of its term, the relevant fees shall be included. If the suspension of the employment contract or service provision occurs after notification of the notice, the period shall be suspended until the cessation of the grounds that originated it.
Article 242: Just Cause
A party may terminate the employment contract in case of non-compliance by the other party with the obligations resulting from it, configured as an injury, and that due to its gravity, does not allow the continuation of the relationship. The assessment must be made judiciously by the judges, taking into consideration the nature of the relations resulting from an employment contract, according to the provisions of this law and the rules and personal circumstances in each case.
Article 243: Communication – Durability of the Cause of Dismissal
Dismissal for just cause provided by the employer against the termination of the employment contract based on just cause by the worker must be communicated in writing with a sufficiently clear expression of the reasons that underlie the breach of contract. Faced with the demand that would promote the party, no modification is permitted to the reason for dismissal in the aforementioned communications.
Article 247: Amount of Compensation
Where the dismissal was due to force majeure or lack or reduction of work not attributable to the employer and convincingly justified, the worker shall be entitled to compensation equal to half of that provided in Article 245 of this law. In such cases, the dismissal should start with the least senior staff within each specialty. For staff who joined in a single semester, it should be restarted with those who have fewer family responsibilities, although this will alter the order of seniority.
Article 248: Compensation for Seniority – Amount – Beneficiaries
In case of the death of the worker, the persons listed in Article 38 of Decree 18.037/68 (to 1974) shall, through the accreditation of the link alone, in the order and priority established therein, be entitled to compensation equal to that provided in Article 247 of this law. For these purposes, the widow is equated with the unmarried or widowed woman who had lived in public with the worker, apparently in marriage, for at least two (2) years prior to the death. In the case of a married worker, the woman will have equal rights when the wife, due to the worker’s fault or the fault of both, was divorced or separated in fact at the time of the worker’s death, provided the situation has been maintained for five (5) years preceding the death. This compensation is independent of that recognized for the beneficiaries of the employee by the law of accidents, as appropriate, and any other benefits that by law, collective labor agreements, insurance, acts, or contracts, had been granted to them by reason of the death of the worker.
Article 249: Conditions – Amount of Compensation
The employment contract is extinguished upon the death of the employer when their personal or legal conditions, professional activity, or other circumstances have been the cause of the employment relationship and without which it could not continue. In this case, the worker shall be entitled to the compensation provided for in Article 247 of this law.