Título II · Capítulo II Sección Octava. Trabajo

Work is a right of the person and a social obligation. The labor regime of the country must be organized in accordance with principles of social justice.

The minimum social rights that underlie labor legislation and the activity of the tribunals and authorities are:

a)Right to free choice of work and to satisfactory economic conditions that guarantee the worker and his family a dignified existence;

b)All work shall be equitably remunerated, except as determined by law in this respect;

c)Equality of wage for equal work performed under equality of conditions, efficiency and seniority;

d)Obligation to pay the worker in legal tender. However, the field worker may receive, at his will, food products up to thirty percent of his wage. In this case the employer shall supply such products at a price no greater than their cost;

e)The wage shall be exempt from attachment in the cases determined by law. Personal work implements may not be subject to attachment for any reason. Nevertheless, for protection of the worker's family and by judicial order, part of the wage may be withheld and delivered to whom it corresponds;

f)Periodic fixing of the minimum wage in accordance with the law;

g)Daytime ordinary working hours of effective work shall not exceed eight hours of work per day, nor forty-four hours per week, equivalent to forty-eight hours for the exclusive purposes of payment of the wage. Nighttime ordinary working hours of effective work shall not exceed six hours per day, nor thirty-six per week. Mixed ordinary working hours of effective work shall not exceed seven hours per day, nor forty-two per week. All work effectively performed outside the ordinary working hours constitutes overtime and must be remunerated as such. The law shall determine the highly qualified exceptional situations in which the provisions relating to working hours are not applicable.

Those who by provision of the law, by custom or by agreement with employers work less than forty-four hours weekly on daytime hours, thirty-six on nighttime hours, or forty-two on mixed hours, shall have the right to receive the full weekly wage.

Effective work is understood as all the time the worker remains under the orders or at the disposal of the employer;

h)Right of the worker to one day of paid rest for each ordinary week of work or for each six consecutive days of work. Holidays recognized by law shall also be remunerated;

i)Right of the worker to fifteen working days of paid annual leave after each year of continuous service, except for workers of agricultural and livestock enterprises, who shall have the right to ten working days. Annual leave must be effective and the employer may not compensate this right in a different form, except when, once acquired, the employment relationship ends;

j)Obligation of the employer to grant each year a year-end bonus of not less than one hundred percent of the monthly wage, or that already established if it were greater, to the workers who have worked during an uninterrupted year prior to the date of granting. The law shall regulate its form of payment. For workers who have less than a year of service, such year-end bonus shall be covered proportionally to the time worked;

k)Protection of the working woman and regulation of the conditions under which she must provide her services.

No differences shall be established between married and single women in matters of work. The law shall regulate protection of maternity of the working woman, from whom no work requiring effort that endangers her pregnancy shall be required. The working mother shall enjoy compulsory leave paid with one hundred percent of her wage, during the thirty days preceding childbirth and the forty-five days following. During the nursing period she shall have the right to two extraordinary rest periods, within the working day. Pre- and postnatal rest periods shall be extended according to her physical conditions, by medical prescription;

l)Minors under fourteen years of age may not be employed in any kind of work, except for the exceptions established by law. It is prohibited to employ minors in work incompatible with their physical capacity or that endangers their moral formation.

Workers over sixty years of age shall be subject to treatment appropriate to their age;

m)Protection and promotion of the work of the blind, disabled persons and persons with physical, mental or sensory deficiencies;

n)Preference for Guatemalan workers over foreigners in equality of conditions and in the percentages determined by law. In parity of circumstances, no Guatemalan worker may earn a lower wage than a foreigner, be subject to inferior working conditions, nor obtain lesser economic advantages or other benefits;

ñ)Fixing of the norms of mandatory compliance for employers and workers in individual and collective work contracts. Employers and workers shall seek the economic development of the enterprise for common benefit;

o)Obligation of the employer to indemnify with one month of wage for each year of continuous service when he unjustifiably or indirectly dismisses a worker, while the law does not establish another more convenient system that grants better benefits.

For purposes of computing continuous service, the date on which the employment relationship began shall be taken into account, whatever it may be;

p)It is the obligation of the employer to grant to the spouse or cohabitant, minor or incapacitated children of a worker who dies while in his service, a benefit equivalent to one month of wage for each year worked. This benefit shall be covered in accrued monthly payments and its amount shall not be less than the last wage received by the worker.

If death occurs from a cause whose risk is fully covered by the social security regime, this obligation of the employer ceases. In case this regime does not fully cover the benefit, the employer must pay the difference;

q)Right of free unionization of the workers. This right may be exercised without any discrimination and without being subject to prior authorization, having only to comply with fulfilling the requirements established by law. Workers may not be dismissed for participating in the formation of a trade union, and shall enjoy this right from the moment they give notice to the General Labor Inspectorate.

Only Guatemalans by birth may intervene in the organization, direction and advice of trade union entities. Excepted are cases of governmental technical assistance and that provided in international treaties or in inter-union agreements authorized by the Executive Branch;

r)The establishment of economic and social welfare institutions that, for the benefit of the workers, grant benefits of all kinds, especially for disability, retirement and survivorship;

s)If the employer does not prove just cause for the dismissal, he must pay the worker by way of damage and losses one month of wage if the trial is heard in one instance, two months of wage in case of appeal of the judgment, and if the proceedings last in their procedure more than two months, he must pay fifty percent of the worker's wage, for each month exceeding the procedure of that time limit, up to a maximum, in this case, of six months; and

t)The State shall participate in international or regional agreements and treaties that refer to labor matters and that grant better protections or conditions to the workers.

In such cases, what is established in said agreements and treaties shall be considered as part of the minimum rights enjoyed by the workers of the Republic of Guatemala.

The laws regulating relations between employers and labor are conciliatory, protective for the workers and shall take into account all relevant economic and social factors. For agricultural labor, the law shall especially take into account its needs and the zones in which it is performed.

All conflicts relating to labor are subject to exclusive jurisdiction. The law shall establish the rules corresponding to that jurisdiction and the bodies charged with putting them into practice.

The right to strike and lockout exercised in accordance with the law is recognized, after all conciliation procedures have been exhausted. These rights may be exercised solely for reasons of an economic-social nature. The laws shall establish the cases and situations in which strike and lockout shall not be permitted.

The State, through the specific entities, shall support the planning and construction of housing complexes, establishing adequate financing systems that allow the different programs to be attended to, so that workers may opt for adequate housing that meets sanitary conditions.

The owners of enterprises are obligated to provide to their workers, in the cases established by law, housing that meets the foregoing requirements.

The rights set forth in this section are non-waivable for workers, susceptible to being exceeded through individual or collective contracting, and in the manner prescribed by law. For this purpose the State shall foster and protect collective bargaining. The stipulations that imply waiver, diminution, distortion or limitation of the rights recognized in favor of workers in the Constitution, in the law, in the international treaties ratified by Guatemala, in the regulations or other provisions relating to work shall be null ipso jure and shall not bind workers, even if expressed in a collective or individual work contract, in an agreement or in another document.

In case of doubt regarding the interpretation or scope of legal, regulatory or contractual provisions in labor matters, they shall be interpreted in the sense most favorable to workers.