Does your employer in Peru have to give you a work certificate when you leave?

What the rule says

The duty to hand over a work certificate (certificado de trabajo) is in Supreme Decree N.º 001-96-TR, the Regulation of the Employment Promotion Law. Its Third Complementary, Transitory, Repealing and Final Provision says:

“Extinguido el contrato de trabajo, el trabajador recibirá del empleador, dentro de las cuarenta y ocho (48) horas, un certificado en el que se indique, entre otros aspectos, su tiempo de servicios y la naturaleza de las labores desempeñadas. A solicitud del trabajador se indicará la apreciación de su conducta o rendimiento.”

(Once the employment contract has ended, the worker shall receive from the employer, within forty-eight (48) hours, a certificate stating, among other things, their length of service and the nature of the work performed. At the worker’s request, it shall include an assessment of their conduct or performance.)

Four rules come out of that sentence:

Why the job ended does not matter

The rule speaks of a contract that has ended (“extinguido”), and nothing more. It sets no conditions based on the cause: resignation, dismissal, mutual-agreement termination or the end of a fixed-term contract. We found no exception in the text. Nor does it make delivery depend on signing your final settlement or returning company equipment.

The rule does not require you to ask for the certificate: it says the worker “recibirá” (shall receive) it from the employer. Still, ask for it in writing. That request is your evidence if you later need to file a complaint.

What it must say, and what goes in only if you ask

What cannot be missing: your length of service and the nature of the work you did. The phrase “entre otros aspectos” (among other things) means that list is a minimum. The employer can add details such as your job title or your start and end dates.

An assessment of your conduct or performance is different. The rule says it is included “a solicitud del trabajador”. It follows that you decide whether it goes in: if a reference helps your job search, ask for it; if you don’t ask, the certificate should stick to the objective facts. Note that the rule does not phrase this as an express ban on the employer. What it does make clear is that the assessment depends on your request.

The rule does not say whether the certificate may mention why the job ended. We found nothing on that in the text quoted here.

If your employer doesn’t give it to you

The Regulation of the General Labor Inspection Law, Supreme Decree N.º 019-2006-TR, lists this as a minor infraction (infracción leve):

“23.2 No entregar al trabajador, en los plazos y con los requisitos previstos, […] boletas de pago de remuneraciones, hojas de liquidación de compensación por tiempo de servicios, participación en las utilidades u otros beneficios sociales, o cualquier otro documento que deba ser puesto a su disposición.”

(Failing to give the worker, within the deadlines and with the required content, […] pay slips, severance-fund settlement sheets, profit-sharing or other benefits, or any other document that must be made available to them.)

The item does not name the work certificate. It is covered by the words “any other document that must be made available to them”, and the certificate is a document that Supreme Decree 001-96-TR requires the employer to deliver by a fixed deadline. That is the link between the two rules. The reading is ours; the regulation does not spell it out in those words.

How large the fine can be depends on the size of the company and how many workers are affected. That table is on our page on Sunafil fines. To file the complaint, see how to file a complaint with Sunafil.

What this page does not cover

• Public sector. State employees have their own regimes, which this page did not review.
• Certificates while you still work there. The rule quoted here covers the certificate once the contract has ended. We did not review whether employers must issue employment letters while you are still on the job.
• Other end-of-job documents. Your final settlement of labor benefits and the CTS (severance fund) paperwork have their own rules. Start with how your final settlement is calculated.
• Damages for not getting the certificate. We did not review whether you can claim compensation in a labor lawsuit for not receiving it.
• Text of the inspection regulation. We quote item 23.2 from the SPIJ text published on gob.pe, downloaded on 11 February 2022. The part we quote is the part that defines the infraction; we left out with […] the list of documents that comes before pay slips.