Final settlement of labor benefits in Peru: how your prorated CTS, vacation and bonus are calculated

What a final labor settlement covers

When your employment ends — whether by resignation, dismissal, mutual agreement, or a contract expiring — your employer must immediately pay you the portion of your labor benefits you hadn’t already been paid for. This is commonly called a “liquidación” in Peru, and in practice it covers three distinct concepts, each with its own calculation rule: your pending CTS (severance savings), a prorated bonus, and prorated vacation pay. None of the three depends on why your employment ended — you’re owed them whether you resigned or were dismissed.

CTS: what’s already deposited, plus what’s pending since the last semester

CTS isn’t paid to you month by month in cash: your employer deposits it into an account in your name at a bank or financial institution, in the first half of May and November each year, for as many twelfths of your computable pay as full months you worked that semester, plus thirtieths for leftover days (Article 21). Computable pay is your base salary plus everything you regularly receive in cash or in kind as compensation for your work, including in-kind meals, with the specific exclusions in Articles 19 and 20 (Article 9).

When your job ends, you’re owed two things: what’s already deposited, plus interest, which the depositary cannot withhold under any agreement (Article 44); and the proportional amount accrued since your last semiannual deposit through your termination date — your “prorated CTS” — which your employer must pay you directly, since it was never deposited.

The 48-hour deadline for your termination certificate

To withdraw your already-deposited CTS, you need to present the bank or financial institution with a termination certificate signed by your employer. Article 45 requires your employer to hand you that document within 48 hours of your termination. If your employer unjustifiably refuses, delays, or has abandoned the business, Article 46 gives you a way out: you can go to the Labor Inspection Authority (Sunafil) so it issues the certificate in the employer’s place.

Prorated vacation pay: you need a full month

If, by the time your job ended, you had accrued service time without taking your annual vacation, you’re entitled to prorated (“truncated”) vacation pay. Article 23 of the regulations to Legislative Decree 713 sets a clear condition: you must prove at least one month of service for this payment to apply. Once that’s met, you’re compensated at a rate of twelfths of your pay for each full month worked, plus thirtieths for each additional day.

Prorated bonus: one full month of service, then proportional to the current semester

Peru’s ordinary Independence Day and Christmas bonuses are calculated over the January-June and July-December semesters respectively, and are reduced proportionally when the period of service is shorter (numeral 3.3 of the regulations to Law N.º 27735). If your job ends before the current semester is over, you don’t lose your share of that period — but there’s a prior requirement: Article 5.1 of the same regulations conditions the right to a prorated bonus on having at least one full month of service. With less than a month worked, the entitlement never arises, exactly as with prorated vacation pay.

Once that floor is met, Article 5.2 sets the amount in proportion to the complete calendar months worked in the semester your employment ended, and Article 5.4 requires the prorated bonus to be paid together with all your other benefits, within 48 hours of termination.

What to do if you aren’t paid your settlement

If your employer doesn’t give you the termination certificate within 48 hours, or doesn’t directly pay you the prorated CTS, prorated bonus, or prorated vacation pay you’re owed, you can file a complaint with Sunafil. And if you also believe your dismissal was unjustified, that’s a separate and independent claim from this settlement: see our guide on unfair dismissal in Peru to understand when additional severance applies.

If you’re resigning

If you’re the one ending the employment relationship, this site also drafts your formal resignation letter for you. Generate your resignation letter →

Calculate it

The severance calculator applies these formulas to your case: enter your pay, dates and regime, and get each item with its norm and whether its formula is verified. Go to the severance calculator.

Did your fixed-term contract become indefinite?

If your fixed-term contract converted into an indefinite one because you kept working past its expiration or it exceeded the legal maximum, that can change how your final settlement is calculated. Check fixed-term contracts in Peru: when they become indefinite.

Do you know which pension system you’re in?

Your final labor settlement doesn’t include your pension fund (AFP) or ONP contributions, which are handled separately. Check AFP vs. ONP: which to choose and what happens if you never decided to understand the difference.

The detail behind your truncated vacation pay

The calculation of truncated vacation pay and any unused vacation record that must be included in your settlement follows its own twelfths-and-thirtieths logic. See the detail in truncated vacation pay in Peru: how it’s calculated when you leave.

If your exit was a mutual agreement termination

Benefits you already earned aren’t lost just because you signed a voluntary exit agreement. See what clauses deserve a close look in mutual agreement termination in Peru: what to sign and what not to.