The Colombian Government has undertaken several measures to improve the labour inspection system over the past years, including an increase in the number of inspectors with a career civil service status and a commitment to considerably increase the total number of labour inspectors in the coming years; improved training programmes for inspectors; an innovative software for effective case tracking in labour inspections; and a mobile labour inspection to help promote labour law compliance in rural areas. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain to guarantee the effectiveness of the labour inspection system, in particular with budget stability, inspection strategy and fines collection.
OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies: Colombia 2022
OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies
3. Labour law enforcement
Budget for labour inspection
The total budget for labour inspection, surveillance and control has been fluctuating considerably over the past few years. While the budget nearly tripled in 2018 from EUR 663 000 in 2017 to EUR 1.77 million in 2018, the government reduced the budget again in 2020 to the 2017‑level to free up resources to deal with the COVID‑19 pandemic (Figure 3.1). The budget has been gradually augmented again since then, but remains below the 2018‑19 levels, at EUR 1.22 million in 2021 and a foreseen EUR 1.33 million for 2022.1
Figure 3.1. The labour inspection budget remains volatile
Source: OECD calculations based on data provided by the Ministry of Labour.
However, as part of the National Development Plan 2018‑22, it was decided to move the responsibility of the fines collection from the National Training Service (SENA, Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje) to the Ministry of Labour. As such, since 2020, the proceeds from fines collection are generating additional resources for the inspectorate to strengthen labour inspection, amounting to EUR 333 861 in 2020 and EUR 650 263 in 2021 (Figure 3.1). With these proceeds included, the total budget of the labour inspectorate in 2021 exceeded the budget for 2018 and 2019.
In addition, the Colombian Government recently approved an additional budget of EUR 6.6 million to increase the number of labour inspectors over the coming years (see below), demonstrating their commitment to further strengthen labour inspection.
Labour inspectors: Numbers, compensation and training
At the end of 2021, there were 882 active labour inspectors, of which 66% have the status of civil servants, and 22 vacancies. The share of civil service inspectors has been increasing since 2018, thanks to the selection process and the exam held by the National Civil Service Commission. As a result, the proportion of the labour inspectors in permanent civil service positions grew from 68 in 2017 to 581 in 2021.
Hiring labour inspectors as civil servants is a remarkable improvement for the labour inspection system as it provides career stability for the inspectors and reduces turnover for the inspectorate. However, only 351 of the 778 inspectors in provisional appointments participated in the civil service exam and, as the exam was a general civil service competition and not one for labour inspection specifically, only 179 of them passed the exam. As a result, there was a clear brain-drain of most of the inspectors trained from 2011 to 2019 by the ILO with the support of the US Government (CUT, CTC and CGT, 2021[5]). For instance, data from the Ministry of Labour illustrate that 340 inspectors resigned in 2019 while 540 have been appointed that year.
In addition, the Ministry of Labour aims to reach 2000 labour inspectors by 2024 to improve labour law enforcement nationwide. Reaching this goal would ensure approximately 1 inspector per 10 000 workers, in line with the ILO benchmark for industrial market economies (ILO, 2006[19]). In January 2022, the Ministry of Labour issued Decree 144 to increase their corps of labour inspectors by 355 new positions in the first phase – a nearly 40% increase – for which EUR 6.6 million has been approved by the government. While the Ministry of Labour continues to hire career inspectors from the list of eligible candidates, it is expected that filling the new positions will also require hiring on a provisional basis, until a new civil service exam can be held.
That said, the government continues to face challenges in the retention of inspectors, mainly because their salary is not competitive in the labour market (around EUR 885 per month), and the location in certain regions seems less attractive for professionals. For instance, in 2021, 37 labour inspectors presented their resignation to the Ministry of Labour, 5 in the central level and 32 in the territorial directorates. To improve the situation a number of measures have been agreed in the collective bargaining agreement with inspectors’ unions for 2021‑23. In particular, the agreement includes a special administrative bonus, a bonus for relocation and a few other benefits to make labour inspector work more attractive. The Ministry of Labour also created more hierarchy in the positions so that inspectors have career prospects.
The implementation of training programmes for labour inspectors continues to be a priority for the Colombian Government. After creating an internal working group to organise training programmes for labour inspectors through Resolution 3783 of 2017, the government has implemented several training programmes for new inspectors, as well as permanent training to enhance the competencies of experienced labour inspectors, including courses on labour intermediation, administrative procedures, job stability and collective bargaining. Similar courses have also been offered in the Virtual Campus for the Training of Labour Inspection, which was launched and implemented in 2019 with the accompaniment of the ILO and prioritised under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Governments of Colombia and the United States.2 In 2019, 1 164 inspectors participated in face‑to-face trainings and 6 726 inspectors participated in virtual trainings. By December 2019, approximately 80% of all inspectors completed the core courses in the Virtual Campus (USDOL, 2021[20]). Additionally, between 2019 and 2021, the ILO and the European Union have been organising training sessions to enhance labour inspections and promote labour law enforcement in rural areas in Colombia, with a focus on Antioquia, Cauca and Nariño.
Electronic case management and mobile inspection
The electronic inspection case management system of the labour inspectorate (SISINFO), which has been gradually put in place since 2018, allows for effective case tracking in labour inspections. Today, the system is fully operational in all 33 Territorial Offices, 3 Special Work Offices (Barrancabermeja, Urabá and Buenaventura) and all Municipal Inspection Offices. The SISINFO system has up-to-date information on 92 088 files (of which 35 182 active and 56 906 completed). However, further improvements are needed in the correct application of the system among labour inspectors, to improve its use and ensure that cases are adjudicated within legally mandated timeframes.
Additionally, under the Canada-Colombia Action Plan (Employment and Social Development Canada, 2018[10]), a mobile labour inspection has been created to reach rural areas where there are no on-site labour inspections – in particular the 171 municipalities prioritised by the national government under the PDET. Even though the mobile labour inspection was not primarily established to conduct preventive or reactive inspections, 149 inspections were conducted between 2018 and 2021. In addition, the mobile inspection trained 2 258 labour monitors in 2018, 3 460 in 2019, 921 in 2020, and 1 077 in 2021.
Inspections and investigations
The number of labour inspections and investigations declined considerably over the past five years. Whereas labour inspectors conducted around 19 000 investigations per year in 2017, the number dropped to 14 000 in 2019 and 10 000 in 2020 (Figure 3.2, Panel A). The drop in 2019 was related to the changes in staff as a result of the civil career exam, whereas, in 2020, labour inspectors had to adapt to COVID‑19 restrictions and shifted to general inspection actions using virtual means and technological tools. Investigations picked up again in 2021, but only reached 70% of the 2017 numbers and a significant share of these inspections remained virtual. In addition, with the aim to reduce the number of cases that end up in resource‑consuming litigation and in the end have little impact on the rights of the workers involved, the inspectorate has shifted its focus from reactive visits to mainly preventive visits, which now account for roughly 80% of all inspections.
As a result of this shift, the number of sanctioning procedures decreased from 3 177 in 2017 to 1 376 in 2020, and 2006 in 2021 (Figure 3.2, Panel A). There are also major concerns regarding the real timeframes to conclude these administrative investigations, which was 18 months on average for 2021, exceeding substantially the legally mandated duration (up to 219 days, or 9.7 months). By March 2021, SISINFO registered more than 83 000 cases, of which 48% active and 43% of those exceeding the legal timeframes (USDOL, 2021[20]).3 As a consequence of the decrease in sanctioning procedures, the number of fines imposed by labour inspectors has been reduced as well, from an average of 3 300 fines per year between 2017 and 2019, to less than half in 2020 (1 639 fines). In 2021, the number of fines imposed rose again to 3 400.
The total amount of fines imposed and executed has been fluctuating over the past years, increasing from EUR 6.2 million in 2017 to EUR 11.7 million in 2018, then decreasing to EUR 3.2 million in 2020 and EUR 5.6 million in 2021 (Figure 3.2, Panel B).
Figure 3.2. Inspections and fines collection dropped
Number of inspections and amount of fines imposed and collected, 2017‑21
Source: Data provided by the Ministry of Labour.
The collection of fines
As mentioned above, the responsibility of the fines collection has been moved from SENA (the National Training Service) to the Ministry of Labour to strengthen labour inspection. All fines assessed prior to 1 January 2020, remain under the purview of SENA, while all fines assessed after this date are collected by the Ministry of Labour.
In 2020, SENA collected EUR 728 000 in fines whereas the Ministry of Labour collected EUR 333 861 under FIVICOT, together reaching EUR 1.06 million (Figure 3.2, Panel B). In 2021, they jointly collected EUR 1.45 million. These amounts for 2020 and 2021 are considerably lower than the amounts collected in 2017 and 2018, when respectively EUR 3 million and EUR 3.3 million fines had been collected. The COVID‑19 pandemic certainly complicated the complication of fines, but the decrease in fine collection already started in 2019 when only EUR 1.95 million fines had been collected. Overall, SENA has failed to collect between 30% and 40% of fines since 2018. By the end of 2021, SENA accumulated 3 600 uncollected fines for a total amount of EUR 16 million. It is unclear whether the shift of the fines collection to the Ministry of Labour will improve the situation.
In sum, to ensure the enforcement of labour regulations and workers’ rights, it is crucial to continue reinforcing the labour inspectorate’s functioning. The transfer of the fines collection from the National Training Service to the Ministry of Labour and the increase in the total number of labour inspectors are both highly welcome, but continued efforts are needed to improve inspections, sanctioning procedures and collection of fines. A more balanced use of reactive versus preventive inspections would improve the deterrence effect of labour inspections more broadly and encourage employers to comply with the labour regulations voluntarily.
Notes
← 1. Exchange rates of 18 January 2022 have been used to convert Colombian pesos into Euros.
← 2. The Virtual Campus included a first set of 10 courses related to core competencies for inspectors, including fundamental rights at work, individual and collective labour law, occupational safety and health, social security, and labour formalisation. The Ministry of Labour developed a second version of the Virtual Campus by the end of 2020, offering a set of nine specialised courses that deepened training in these and other areas, including substantiating complaints through testimony and administrative sanctioning procedures (USDOL, 2021[20]).
← 3. According to the Second Periodic Review of the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL, 2021[20]), the electronic case tracking may not reflect the actual legal status of case adjudication in all cases because, under Colombian administrative law, only original, hard copy documents have legal effect and there are sometimes delays in labour inspectors’ updates to the ECMS following the processing of hard copy fine resolutions or other administrative actions. ECMS data nevertheless suggest serious challenges in the timely resolution of cases.