Work
Work
A close relative died: how many days of paid bereavement leave do private-sector workers get in Peru?
If you work in Peru's private sector and your spouse, a parent, a child or a sibling dies, Ley 31602 gives you five calendar days of paid leave. If the death happens somewhere else, you get extra travel days on top.
✓ Verified against the official sourceBonuses, CTS and vacation in Peru: when and how much
Two bonuses a year, one month's pay each, in the first half of July and December, plus an extra payment equal to the EsSalud contribution; CTS deposited in the first 15 days of May and November; 30 days' holiday per year. In micro and small enterprises registered in REMYPE these benefits are smaller.
✓ Verified against the official sourceChild labor in Peru: minimum ages and required authorization
In Peru, an adolescent can generally start working at 14 (12 in exceptional cases), but the work needs authorization from both the parents/guardians and the competent authority, unless it's unpaid family work.
✓ Verified against the official sourceCollective layoffs for economic reasons in Peru: what your employer must do before dismissing you
If your employer wants to end your contract for economic, technological, or structural reasons together with other workers', the law only allows it when it affects 10% or more of the staff, and requires a formal process before the Labor Ministry with negotiation, a technical audit, and fixed deadlines — a simple notice isn't enough. If the layoff goes through, you're entitled to your CTS severance pay within 48 hours and a one-year preference right to get your job back.
✓ Verified against the official sourceCommissions and variable pay in Peru: when they're owed, and how they count toward your CTS, bonus and vacation pay
If you earn commissions, piecework pay, or other imprecise main pay, the law includes it in your CTS, your statutory bonus, and your vacation pay using the same formula: the average of what you earned in the relevant six-month period, or the daily average if you worked less than six months. For a complementary bonus or commission — not your main pay — it just needs to have been received in at least three of the last six months to count as regular. What doesn't count is what your employer pays you occasionally, as a discretionary gift, outside your usual pay structure.
✓ Verified against the official sourceDoes your employer in Peru have to give you a work certificate when you leave?
Yes. When your employment contract ends, your employer must give you, within 48 hours, a certificate stating, among other things, how long you worked there and what kind of work you did. An assessment of your conduct or performance goes in only if you ask. If you don't get it, you can report it to Sunafil.
✓ Verified against the official sourceDomestic workers in Peru: what the law gives you
A written contract registered with the Ministry of Labour within three business days, pay no lower than the minimum wage, eight hours a day and 48 a week, 24 consecutive hours of weekly rest, 30 days' holiday, two full-month bonuses, CTS, and EsSalud paid by the employer. Food and lodging are not wages and cannot be deducted.
✓ Verified against the official sourceEsSalud coercive collection in Peru: what it is, who it targets and how to defend yourself
It depends on the debt. Unpaid EsSalud contributions are a tax debt: Sunat collects them under the Tax Code. Non-tax debts, such as the cost of care EsSalud gave to a delinquent employer's workers, EsSalud collects itself under Ley 26979, which lets you ask for suspension and seek judicial review.
✓ Verified against the official sourceEsSalud maternity and breastfeeding benefit in Peru: who gets it, how much, and how to claim it
If you are an active regular EsSalud member with enough contributions, EsSalud pays a benefit for your 98 days of maternity rest (30 more for a multiple birth or a baby with a disability), based on your average daily pay over the last 12 months. If you are on payroll, your employer pays it and claims it back.
✓ Verified against the official sourceFinal settlement of labor benefits in Peru: how your prorated CTS, vacation and bonus are calculated
When your employment ends, for any reason, your employer must settle three benefits in proportion to the time you haven't already been paid for: your deposited CTS plus the months and days since the last May or November deposit, a prorated bonus for the current semester, and prorated vacation pay — the last two only if you completed at least one full month of service. Your employer has 48 hours from your termination to give you the certification that lets you withdraw your CTS and to pay the prorated bonus along with your other benefits.
✓ Verified against the official sourceFired without cause in Peru? Arbitrary dismissal, what you are owed, and the 30-day deadline
If you were dismissed with no cause stated, or the employer cannot prove the cause in court, you are owed the indemnity in article 38 of the LPCL: one and a half months' pay per complete year of service, capped at twelve months' pay. The right to sue over the dismissal expires thirty calendar days after it happens.
✓ Verified against the official sourceI work at a restaurant that charges a service charge: what am I entitled to?
The service charge (recargo al consumo) you receive is not remuneración — it doesn't count toward your CTS, gratificaciones, vacation pay or EsSalud/ONP/AFP contributions — but it is taxable income (fifth or fourth category, depending on your labor regime). The law doesn't say how it must be split among staff or set a payment deadline: that's left to what you agree with your employer.
✓ Verified against the official sourceIs a Sunafil complaint anonymous?
No, it is confidential, which is different. You must identify yourself with your DNI or carné de extranjería, but the law requires Sunafil to keep secret both that a complaint exists and who filed it. The employer should not learn it was you, unless the inspection cannot proceed otherwise and you agree to lift the reserve.
✓ Verified against the official sourceMedical leave in Peru: who pays the first 20 days, and when does EsSalud's sickness benefit start?
Your employer pays the first 20 days of sick leave in each year as normal salary. From day 21, you get an EsSalud benefit, which your employer advances and then claims back. You need a CITT certificate and enough recent contributions, and the claim must be made within six months.
✓ Verified against the official sourceMy child is seriously ill or has cancer: how much leave does Peruvian law give me, and who pays?
If your child has a serious or terminal illness or a serious accident, you get up to seven calendar days of paid leave, plus up to thirty more charged to your vacation. If your child under 18 has cancer, the law grants up to one year of paid leave: the employer pays the first 21 days and EsSalud the rest.
✓ Verified against the official sourceNon-compete clauses after you leave a job in Peru: is what you signed valid?
Peru has no law that expressly regulates non-compete clauses for after an employment contract ends: none sets a maximum duration, requires compensation, or limits the clause's geographic or industry scope. That does not make these clauses automatically void or automatically valid — courts weigh them case by case against the freedom to work protected by Article 2, paragraph 15 of the Constitution, and against the Civil Code rule that voids acts contrary to public order or good customs. Peruvian labor-law scholarship, drawing on practice in other countries, identifies three factors that make a clause more defensible: a genuine business interest, a reasonable time limit, and economic compensation — but no Peruvian court has fixed these as a mandatory requirement.
✓ Verified against the official sourceNull dismissal for pregnancy or breastfeeding in Peru: what protection the law gives
If you're fired at any point during pregnancy or within 90 days after giving birth, the dismissal is null and void, and the law presumes it was for that reason unless your employer proves a different just cause — but only if you gave written notice of your pregnancy before the dismissal. The remedy the law gives is reinstatement, not just a payout, plus the wages you missed and your CTS deposits.
✓ Verified against the official sourceOutsourcing and staffing agencies in Peru: differences and joint liability
These are two different legal setups. In outsourcing (tercerización), the company that hires you takes on its own risk, resources and direction over your work, even if you do that work at another company's premises (the "principal" company). In labor intermediation (staffing), you're "assigned" to work under the direct orders of a "user" company, only for reasons of temporariness, complementary work, or specialization, capped at 20% of the user company's staff if it's temporary. If you're used as plain labor supply without meeting these requirements, the law gives you a direct employment relationship with the company where you actually work, and both setups carry joint liability — under different conditions — so you don't go unpaid.
✓ Verified against the official sourceOvertime pay and maximum working hours in Peru
The maximum ordinary working day in Peru is 8 hours, or 48 hours a week. Overtime is voluntary and carries a minimum surcharge of 25% on the hourly rate for the first two hours and 35% from the third. Night work (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) cannot be paid below the minimum wage plus 35%. The minimum wage is S/ 1,230 from 1 October 2026 (it was S/ 1,130 until 30 September).
✓ Verified against the official sourcePaid on recibos por honorarios but treated like an employee in Peru?
If you keep a schedule, take orders from a boss and are paid for your personal work, Peruvian law presumes you have an indefinite employment contract, whatever the invoices say. Sunafil applies the primacy of facts over paperwork, and leaving you off the payroll is a very serious infraction, counted once per worker.
✓ Verified against the official sourcePerfect suspension of work for force majeure in Peru: what can your employer do?
After a fortuitous event or force majeure, your employer can suspend work without pay for up to ninety days, with no prior approval, but must notify the labour authority at once. If the authority finds the cause does not exist, it orders you back to work and paid for the suspended time.
✓ Verified against the official sourceProfit-sharing (utilidades) for workers in Peru: who qualifies and how it's calculated
Only if your employer averages more than 20 workers and generates third-category (business) income. The percentage of the company's pre-tax annual profit varies by industry (5% to 10%), is split 50% by days worked and 50% by your pay, and is capped at 18 monthly salaries per worker. It must be paid within 30 calendar days after the deadline for the company's annual income tax return.
✓ Verified against the official sourcePublic holidays in Peru: which days are they, and what are you paid if you work?
For private-sector workers, the national public holidays are the ones listed in article 6 of Legislative Decree 713. If you rest, you are paid for the day. If you work and get no substitute day off, you are paid for the work with a 100% surcharge, on top of the paid holiday.
✓ Verified against the official sourceSCTR (work risk insurance) in Peru: what it covers and what you can claim
If your employer carries out a risk activity (mining, fishing, construction, and over a hundred other activities listed in Anexo 5), it must pay for your SCTR: health coverage from day one and a pension of up to 70% of your pay if a work accident or occupational disease leaves you disabled. If it never contracted the insurance, EsSalud and ONP still cover you and bill the company for it afterward.
✓ Verified against the official sourceSexual harassment at work in Peru: how to report it and your employer's deadlines
Sexual harassment is unwanted conduct of a sexual or sexist nature, and since 2018 the law does not require it to be repeated or to have been rejected: a single act is enough. File your complaint, verbally or in writing, with your employer's Human Resources office. If the workplace has 20 or more employees, a joint labor-management Committee must investigate and issue its report within 15 calendar days, with a final decision no more than 10 calendar days after that. If the harasser is your employer or someone with managerial authority, you can go straight to ending your contract and suing to end the hostility or for damages, within 30 calendar days counted from the day after the last act of harassment — or, if you had already started the internal procedure, from the day after the decision that closes it.
✓ Verified against the official sourceSunafil labor inspection in Peru: what can the inspector ask for on the day, and what happens next?
A Sunafil inspector can enter without notice, review payroll, pay slips and other records, and interview workers, even alone. If they find violations, they give you a deadline to fix them; if you do not, they issue an infraction report. Refusing to cooperate is itself a very serious violation. You can answer the report with a written defense.
✓ Verified against the official sourceT-Registro and PLAME in Peru: how fast must your employer register you, and what is the infraction if they don't?
Your employer must register you in the T-Registro within the same day you start work, whatever your contract, and deregister you within the first business day after your job ends. Not registering you is a very serious infraction, counted per worker; registering you late is a serious one.
✓ Verified against the official sourceTelework in Peru: what your employer owes you and when you can go back to the office
Under Law 31572, telework (teletrabajo) is voluntary and reversible: you can request to return to in-person work, your employer has 10 business days to respond, and silence counts as approval. Your employer must give you equipment and internet, or pay you for providing them yourself, plus your electricity costs. You also have a right to disconnect outside your working hours.
✓ Verified against the official sourceUnionizing in Peru: what protection do union leaders have
Joining a union is protected for every worker in Peru, but fuero sindical — the reinforced protection against dismissal or transfer — only covers union officers, delegates, candidates, and unions still being formed, and the law caps how many officers can hold it.
✓ Verified against the official sourceVoluntary resignation in Peru: the 30-day notice and how to ask to be excused from it
If you resign, the law requires you to give 30 days' written notice. Your employer can excuse you from that period on its own, or because you ask — and if you ask, silence works in your favor: if the employer doesn't reject your request in writing within the following three days, the law treats it as accepted.
✓ Verified against the official sourceWhat workplace safety (SST) obligations does your employer have in Peru?
Law 29783 requires every employer — no matter the industry — to protect your health and safety at work: assess the risks of your job at least once a year, train you, give you free medical exams, and either form a joint committee (20 or more workers) or appoint a supervisor (fewer than 20). Facing an imminent danger, you can stop working without waiting for authorization.
✓ Verified against the official sourceWhich benefits change if you work part time in Peru?
A part-time contract is valid with no hour limit, but the law draws a line at an average of four hours a day: only at or above that threshold do you get CTS severance savings, paid vacation, and protection requiring your employer to show just cause to fire you.
✓ Verified against the official sourceWorkplace bullying (mobbing) in Peru: what protection the law gives when it isn't sexual harassment
Workplace bullying, or mobbing — distinct from sexual harassment — still has no law of its own in Peru. Today, workers use the general "acts of hostility" mechanism under Article 30 of the Labor Productivity and Competitiveness Law: you formally notify your employer in writing, giving it at least six calendar days to correct the conduct, and then you can choose either to demand that it stop or to end your contract and claim the same compensation as for an unfair dismissal, within a 30-calendar-day statute of limitations. Peru also ratified ILO Convention 190 against violence and harassment at work, in force since 2023, though there's still no Peruvian law giving it a procedure of its own.
Partly verifiedAFP vs. ONP in Peru: which to choose, and what happens if you never decided
Law 32123 makes joining ONP or an AFP mandatory, but its regulation only applies the default rule from 1 June 2027: anyone turning 18 from that date who doesn't choose within 12 months goes to the SNP (ONP); an unaffiliated adult who doesn't choose goes to the SPP (AFP) from 1 June 2028.
Partly verifiedApp-based delivery and ride-hailing workers in Peru: what does labor law say today?
As of 30 September 2026, Peru has no published law on app-based work. The general rules apply: if you work in person, get paid and are subordinate, the law presumes an open-ended employment contract. Whether that is true of your work for an app is for a labor inspector or a judge to decide.
Partly verifiedDisability and work in Peru: employment quota and reasonable accommodations
Private employers with more than 50 workers must fill at least 3% of positions with people with disabilities (5% in the public sector), provide reasonable accommodations, and cannot discriminate based on disability; SUNAFIL inspects and fines private employers that fail to comply.
Partly verifiedEsSalud in Peru: Affiliation, Contributions, and What to Do If Your Employer Doesn't Register You
If you work on payroll (planilla), your employer must register you with EsSalud from your first day and pay a 9% contribution on your pay, without deducting it from you. If they don't, you're still entitled to care and can report it to SUNAFIL.
Partly verifiedFixed-term contracts in Peru: when they become indefinite
A fixed-term contract becomes indefinite if you keep working after it expires, if the total exceeds 5 years, or if the job is actually permanent rather than temporary.
Partly verifiedHow do I report my employer to Sunafil in Peru?
Online, free and without a lawyer, through Sunafil's Denuncia Virtual portal: you need the employer's RUC, the workplace address, your DNI or carné de extranjería, an email, a phone number and your evidence as PDFs. Sunafil inspects and fines the company; what you are owed is claimed in court.
Partly verifiedHow much does Sunafil fine? The full table in UIT
It depends on three things: how serious the infraction is (minor, serious or very serious), how many workers are affected, and the size of the employer. A company outside the MYPE regime pays from 0.26 UIT for a minor infraction affecting up to 10 workers to 52.53 UIT for a very serious one affecting 1,000 or more. A registered microenterprise pays from 0.045 UIT.
Partly verifiedMutual agreement termination in Peru: what to sign and what not to
Mutual agreement termination (mutuo disenso) must be voluntary and in writing. It's only valid if your consent was truly free, and benefits you already earned can never be waived.
Partly verifiedPaternity leave and breastfeeding break in Peru: how many days and hours you get
A working father gets 10 calendar days of paid paternity leave for a birth, rising to 20 for a premature or multiple birth, and to 30 for a terminal congenital illness, severe disability in the baby, or serious complications in the mother's health. A working mother also gets a paid one-hour daily breastfeeding break until the child turns one (two hours for a multiple birth), which can be split into two parts.
Partly verifiedPre-professional internship agreements in Peru: your rights as a practicante
Under Law 28518, an intern (practicante) is not legally an 'employee': no CTS or general-regime bonuses apply. But you are entitled to a minimum stipend (not less than one minimum wage at full internship hours), mandatory health/accident coverage, and a daily hour cap. If the company treats you like a regular worker, the agreement can be reclassified as employment.
Partly verifiedProbationary period in Peru: when it ends and what protection you have
The standard probationary period is 3 months; only after it ends do you gain legal protection against arbitrary dismissal.
Partly verifiedRemote work for a foreign company: tax and labor rules for Peruvian freelancers
If you work from Peru for a company with no office or tax ID in Peru, you are generally NOT an 'employee' under Peruvian labor law: no CTS, no bonuses, no employer-side contributions. You must declare income tax with SUNAT yourself and self-enroll in EsSalud and an AFP/ONP if you want health and pension coverage.
Partly verifiedStrikes in Peru: Requirements for a Legal Strike
To be legal, a strike must have a genuine labor-related cause, be approved by a majority of workers in an assembly, and be reported in advance to the employer and to the Ministry of Labor; otherwise it's just a 'paro' that can expose you to sanctions.
Partly verifiedTruncated vacation pay in Peru: how it's calculated when you leave a job
When you leave, you're owed proportional truncated vacation pay (twelfths and thirtieths) for the incomplete year you worked, and if you already had a full year without taking your rest, you're also owed the so-called 'triple vacation payment' for that unused period.
Partly verifiedWhat happens if a company doesn't pay a Sunafil fine?
Just like Indecopi, Sunafil has its own coercive-collection power under Law No. 26979: it doesn't need to sue you in court to freeze your accounts or seize assets. Miss the 7-business-day payment window after notice and Sunafil can move straight to seizure — and unlike Indecopi, it has its own directive authorizing it to report you to credit bureaus, though Indecopi itself already ruled that practice illegal for at least one company.
Partly verifiedWorking for a MYPE in Peru: which benefits change compared with the general regime?
At a small business (pequeña empresa) you get 15 days of vacation, half-salary bonuses, reduced CTS, profit sharing and EsSalud. At a micro business, 15 days of vacation and semi-contributory SIS; the law grants no bonuses, CTS or profit sharing. Hours, overtime, weekly rest and holidays match the general regime.