Argentina: Termination of employment

Original and updating authors: Daniel Orlansky and Felipe Graham, Baker McKenzie

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Summary

• An employer can generally dismiss an employee, with few restrictions, if it makes a statutory service-related severance payment to the employee and observes a statutory notice period. (See General)
• An employer must generally observe a minimum statutory notice period of dismissal of 15 days to two months, depending on the employee's length of service, while an employee must give at least 15 days' notice of resignation. (See Notice periods)
• An employer may dismiss an employee with "just cause" on grounds of serious misconduct, in which case the employer is not required to observe a notice period or make a statutory severance payment. (See Termination for just cause)
• If an employer dismisses an employee on grounds of lack of work (for reasons not attributable to the employer) or force majeure, the statutory severance payment due to the employee is half of the normal amount. (See Redundancy)
• Special rules govern termination while an employee is on paid sick leave, or still unable to work after the paid leave ends. (See Termination on grounds of ill health)
• When an employee reaches the age of 70, assuming that they meet the minimum length of service and contribution requirements for a state old-age pension, the employer is entitled to initiate a procedure that terminates the employee's employment within one year. (See Retirement)
• Employees who are trade union representatives, and those in the run-up to retirement, receive special dismissal protection, while employees dismissed on grounds of pregnancy, maternity or marriage are entitled to additional compensation on top of the normal statutory severance payment. (See Special dismissal protection)
• Where an employer dismisses an employee without "just cause" it must generally pay the employee a statutory service-related severance payment. (See Statutory severance payments)
• In certain cases of dismissal without "just cause", employees are entitled to both a statutory severance payment and additional compensation from the employer, while in all cases where the employment contract terminates the employer must pay the employee their accrued pay-related entitlements. (See Other termination-related payments)
• When an employee's employment ends for any reason, the employer must provide them with a certificate of employment and a statement of the social security and related contributions made in respect of them. (See Certificate of employment)
• The extent to which employees can bring a claim of "unfair" or "unlawful" dismissal is limited. (See Unfair/unlawful dismissal)