Which benefits change if you work part time in Peru?

A part-time contract is valid with no hour limit

Article 4 of the LPCL (Supreme Decree N.° 003-97-TR) is direct: alongside indefinite-term contracts and fixed-term contracts, “written part-time contracts can also be entered into with no limitation whatsoever.” There’s no hour floor or ceiling that bars it. What does change, depending on how many hours you average, is which benefits package you’re entitled to.

The threshold that decides everything: an average of four hours a day

Three separate laws — the CTS severance-savings law, the vacation regulation, and the LPCL itself — land on the same number: an average of four hours a day. That’s the point where three specific benefits switch on or off:

The right to CTS: Article 4 of its own law

The Consolidated Text of the CTS Law (Supreme Decree N.° 001-97-TR) sets the threshold in its Article 4: “Only workers subject to the common private-sector labor regime who work, on average, a minimum daily workday of four hours are covered by the severance-savings benefit.” If your average workday falls short of four hours, you’re not entitled to the twice-yearly CTS deposit.

The right to paid vacation: Article 11 of the regulation

The regulation for Legislative Decree N.° 713, on paid rest days (Supreme Decree N.° 012-92-TR), draws the same line for vacation: “Workers who meet a minimum ordinary workday of four (04) hours are entitled to vacation leave, provided they also met the attendance record required by Article 10 of the Legislative Decree within the year of service.” That’s two requirements at once: the four-hour minimum workday, and the year’s attendance record.

Protection against arbitrary dismissal: Article 22 of the LPCL

This is the least-known benefit. Article 22 of the LPCL says that “to dismiss a worker subject to the private-sector regime who works four or more hours a day for the same employer, a just cause established by law and duly proven is indispensable.” Read that carefully: the just-cause requirement — and with it, the path to claim severance if you’re fired without one — runs per employer, not added up across several jobs.

Below four hours a day for that same employer, this particular rule doesn’t reach you: the employer isn’t required to prove just cause to end the relationship under this article.

What doesn’t depend on the four hours

Not everything is lost below the threshold. The same paid-rest-days regulation, in its Article 1, pays the mandatory weekly rest day “directly proportional to the number of days actually worked,” with no daily-hours minimum required. Other benefits — such as the July and December bonuses or EsSalud coverage — weren’t reviewed on this page because we couldn’t read their governing texts directly this time; if one of those affects you, verify it separately rather than assuming the same four-hour rule applies.

Foreigners and businesses

Nothing in these rules distinguishes by nationality: a foreigner authorized to work in Peru is subject to exactly the same part-time rules as a Peruvian. For businesses, the risk of labeling someone “part time” when their real schedule exceeds four hours isn’t just a Sunafil fine — it also exposes the company to a judge recognizing, based on the hours actually worked, the CTS, vacation, and severance rights the contract tried to deny.