Título Décimo. Organización de los Tribunales de Trabajo y Previsión Social

Conflicts relating to labor and social welfare are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Labor and Social Welfare Tribunals, which are competent to judge and execute what has been judged.

The Labor and Social Welfare Tribunals are:

a)The Labor and Social Welfare Trial Courts, which for purposes of this Code are called simply “Trial Courts”;

b)The Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunals; and

c)The Labor and Social Welfare Appeals Chambers, which for purposes of this Code are called simply “Chambers”.

Such tribunals form part of the Judicial Branch and, once their intervention is requested, must act on their own initiative, abbreviating as much as possible the processing of the matters submitted to their cognizance. Their final judgments have the authority of res judicata.

Those who hold or have held, in the three years prior to their appointment, management positions or judicial or extrajudicial representation in employers' associations or trade union organizations may not be members, public officials, or employees of a Labor and Social Welfare Tribunal.

Insofar as they do not contravene the principles and text of this Title, in the organization of the Labor and Social Welfare Tribunals, the provisions of the Constitutive Law of the Judicial Branch shall apply suppletorily.

Labor and Social Welfare Trial Courts with jurisdiction in each economic zone determined by the Supreme Court of Justice shall be established, taking into account:

a)Concentration of workers;

b)Industrialization of work;

c)Number of union organizations of both workers and employers; and,

d)The report that the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare must previously submit, having previously heard the General Labor Inspectorate. The number of Trial Courts shall be determined by the Supreme Court of Justice, which may increase or decrease it when it deems it necessary.

The Trial Courts are in charge of a judge, who must be an attorney of the Tribunals of the Republic, preferably specialized in labor matters, appointed and removed by the Supreme Court of Justice, for the same causes for which the removal of the judges of First Instance is appropriate. The judges of Labor and Social Welfare must have the requirements that the law requires to be a judge of First Instance and enjoy the same prerogatives and immunities as those.

The Labor and Social Welfare Trial Courts are constituted, in addition, with a secretary who must preferably be an attorney of the tribunals of the Republic, or a law student, and the process servers and clerks that are necessary.

The Peace Trial Courts hear all labor disputes whose amount does not exceed three thousand (Q.3,000.00) quetzales. All Peace Judges of the Republic have jurisdiction to hear such disputes where there are no Exclusive Labor and Social Welfare Judges. Against the decisions issued, the remedies established by the present law shall lie.

The essential purpose of the Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunals is to maintain a just balance among the various factors of production, harmonizing the rights of capital and labor. Each tribunal is composed as follows:

a)A Labor and Social Welfare Judge who presides over it.

b)One principal representative and three alternates of the workers.

c)One principal representative and three alternates of the employers.

The offices are public and mandatory.

By the nature of their functions, the office of president is permanent, whereas the others shall serve for one year from January to December.

Alternates shall be called in the same order of their election or designation.

The representatives referred to in this article must continue to fulfill the responsibilities of their offices until their substitutes take possession. However, they may resign before the Supreme Court of Justice if they have already completed their term.

The Secretary of the Trial Court whose judge presides over the tribunal is at the same time Secretary thereof, also permanent.

The Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunals are permanent in nature and shall function in each Trial Court that, by designation of the Supreme Court of Justice, hears labor matters. The President of the tribunal shall convene the representatives of the workers and employers when it is necessary to constitute said tribunal. Alternates shall be called in the same order of their election or appointment.

The judge and those who serve on the Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunals shall earn, as per diem allowances, the sums decided by the Supreme Court of Justice, which must annually include in its budget sufficient resources for that purpose or arrange pursuant to law the transfers necessary for that purpose.

The Conciliation and Arbitration tribunals hear at first instance.

The representatives of the workers and employers shall be proposed by their respective organizations to the Supreme Court of Justice no later than the last business day of the month of November of each year, for it to determine within the following fifteen days whether or not the candidates to be appointed meet the qualifications required by law. If not, or in cases where no candidates are submitted or the number that each party must propose is not completed, the Court is empowered to freely appoint as members of one or the other party persons who satisfy the requirements of law.

The list of the names of those who are appointed shall be sent to the Labor and Social Welfare Trial Courts immediately upon being designated; it shall also be published in the official gazette and in other social communication media, as well as sent to the Bar Association.

The representatives of the employers and those of the workers must be native Guatemalans among those included in Article 6 of the Constitution of the Republic, over twenty-one years of age, of recognized education and good conduct, citizens in the exercise of their rights and of lay status. They must also be domiciled in the jurisdictional area of the respective Trial Court. Neither lawyers nor members of the Judicial Branch may be conciliators or arbitrators, except the President of the Tribunal.

The representative who in any manner fails in his duty shall be subject to disciplinary correction, according to the seriousness of the offense, with a fine of ten to five hundred quetzales, in the judgment of the Labor and Social Welfare Appeals Chamber having jurisdiction. Against those decisions, an appeal lies before the Supreme Court of Justice.

In the Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunals, the President is in charge of issuing procedural decisions, which shall be signed by him and his secretary. The other decisions shall be issued and signed by all members of the tribunal even when one voted against.

The deliberations of the Conciliation and Arbitration Tribunals are secret and voting must be effected in the same manner on the day appointed for the award. The decisions of this tribunal are taken by majority vote of its members.

The Supreme Court of Justice, as needs so require, shall determine the number and territorial jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeal that shall hear in second instance labor and social welfare matters.

Said Chambers are composed of three Regular Magistrates and three Alternates elected by the Congress of the Republic, with the person elected in the first place presiding over the Tribunal and the other two serving as first and second members in the order of their election. They shall have a Secretary who must be an Attorney of the Tribunals of the Republic or a law student and such clerks and process servers as may be necessary.

The Magistrates of the Labor and Social Welfare Chambers must have the qualifications that the Constitution requires to be Magistrates of the Court of Appeals and, preferably, be specialized in Labor Law. They enjoy the same emoluments, as well as the same prerogatives and immunities, and shall serve four years in the exercise of their offices.

The Labor and Social Welfare Appeals Chambers hear on appeal the decisions issued by the Labor and Social Welfare Judges or by the Arbitration Tribunals, when appeal or mandatory review is appropriate.

The President of the Chamber is in charge of carrying out the processing of matters, issuing the corresponding decisions, which shall be signed by him and his secretary. The other decisions shall be signed by all its members. The deliberations of the tribunal are secret; voting shall likewise be held in secret on the day on which the judgment is to be rendered.

The President of the Tribunal shall distribute the work in equal parts among the three Magistrates, each of whom must personally examine the case file in order to approve, disapprove or modify the opinion of the others.

The decisions of this Tribunal shall be taken by majority vote of its members.

The personnel of the Labor and Social Welfare Tribunals shall be appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Constitutive Law of the Judicial Branch.

In labor conflicts, jurisdiction is non-extendable by reason of subject matter and territory. Except with respect to territorial jurisdiction, when a clause that manifestly favors the worker has been agreed in the contracts or labor pacts.

The Labor Tribunals may not delegate their jurisdiction for the cognizance of the entire matter submitted to them nor for rendering their judgment. Nevertheless, they may commission another judge of equal or lower rank, even if the latter is not within the exclusive labor jurisdiction, for the performance of certain procedural acts that must be carried out outside the place where the trial is being heard.

Whoever is sued as defendant or required for the performance of a judicial act before a judge whom he deems incompetent by reason of territory or subject matter may appear before such judge requesting that he decline to hear the matter and remit the proceedings to the corresponding judge. He may also appear before the judge whom he considers competent, requesting that he direct an exhorto to the other judge to decline to hear the matter and remit the case file to him. In both cases he must raise the issue within three days of being notified.

Conflicts of jurisdiction by reason of subject matter arising between the Labor Tribunals and other Tribunals of ordinary or privative jurisdiction shall be resolved by the Supreme Court of Justice.

For the processing of questions of competence, as well as in cases of conflicts of jurisdiction that may arise between a Labor Tribunal and an authority that does not belong to the Judicial Branch, the rules contained in the Constitutive Law of the Judicial Branch govern, without prejudice to the procedure always being oral and advanced on its own initiative.

Once the conflicts of jurisdiction or competence have been resolved by the corresponding tribunal, the proceedings shall be remitted as soon as possible to the judge deemed competent, so that the latter may continue the procedure.

In the decisions of the tribunals charged with resolving jurisdictional conflicts, it must be assessed whether or not the exception of lack of jurisdiction is frivolous. If so, a fine of ten to one hundred quetzales shall be imposed on the litigant who filed it.

The Labor and Social Welfare judge who maliciously declares himself incompetent shall be suspended from the exercise of his office for fifteen days, without pay.

Except for a provision to the contrary agreed in a contract or work agreement that clearly favors the worker, the following is always competent and preferred over any other Labor and Social Welfare judge:

a)The judge of the jurisdictional zone corresponding to the place of performance of the work;

b)The judge of the jurisdictional zone corresponding to the habitual residence of the claimant, if there are several places of performance of the work;

c)The judge of the jurisdictional zone corresponding to the habitual residence of the defendant if they are conflicts between employers or among workers themselves, in connection with work;

d)The judge of the jurisdictional zone corresponding to the place in the national territory where the contracts were concluded, in the case of actions arising from contracts concluded with Guatemalan workers for the provision of services or construction of works abroad, unless a clause more favorable to the workers or to their directly interested family members has been stipulated.

Actions to obtain the dissolution of, or any performance from, trade union organizations shall be brought before the judge of the jurisdictional zone corresponding to the place of domicile thereof.

However, the provisions of the preceding article shall govern when trade union organizations act as employers in a given case.

What is established in Articles 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142 and 143 of the Constitutive Law of the Judicial Branch is applicable to the Labor and Social Welfare Tribunals.

The parties have the right to request that the judge excuse himself and to recuse him upon stating legal cause, at any stage of the trial. This provision does not apply to the conciliation and arbitration tribunals, which shall be governed as established in the respective chapter.

If the judge deems the alleged ground to be true, the judge shall issue a decision declaring himself recused and shall order the matter to be transferred to the person who must replace him. No appeal shall lie against this decision.

If the judge deems the ground not to be true or not to give rise to recusal, the judge shall so state in a reasoned order and shall order the matter to be transferred to the jurisdictional appeals chamber, which must decide within twenty-four hours of receipt of the record; but if within that period any of the parties requests the admission of evidence, which it must specify, such evidence shall be received at a verbal hearing to be held within a period of three days, after which it shall decide within forty-eight hours.

In cases where an excuse, a recusal or a disqualification applies, the following rules shall be observed:

a)If it concerns a Labor and Social Welfare judge, the case file shall be ordered transferred to the nearest judge of equal rank;

b)If it concerns one of the magistrates of the Labor and Social Welfare chambers, the alternates shall be called in their order; in the event that all are disqualified from hearing the case, the Supreme Court of Justice shall designate, within the twenty-four hours following its being notified, the other alternate Labor and Social Welfare magistrates, in the order of their election; and if even then the chamber cannot be constituted because the latter are likewise disqualified from hearing the case, it shall call the alternate magistrates of the Court of Appeals of the ordinary jurisdiction, also in the order of their election; and

c)If it concerns one or several members of the conciliation and arbitration tribunals, those who are to replace them shall be called in their order from the respective lists; in the event they are exhausted, the corresponding appeals chamber shall make the designation from among the alternates, in their order.

The parties, in the same matter, may seek recusal, with expression of cause or without it, of up to two secretaries, officers or notifiers, in which case the judge shall issue a decision ordering that the case file be passed to another of the officers or notifiers.