On 19 March 2021, the Labour Directorate published its ruling No. 1000/009, which establishes the doctrine on the statute of limitations for labour fines. Specifically, this ruling states the following:

1. As indicated in ruling 024731N19 dated 12 September 2019, of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, the statute of limitations period for liability for administrative offences is 5 years, counted from the time the offence is committed.

2. Notwithstanding the foregoing, prior to the issuance of this opinion, the statute of limitations for administrative fines was administratively considered to be 6 months.

3. Therefore, the Directorate of Labour comes to set doctrine in this regard, establishing that applications for the declaration of prescription of fines that were filed at a time prior to 12 September 2019, must be resolved considering the limitation period of 6 months.

4. Thus, all applications that are filed after 12 September 2019, should consider the ordinary limitation period of 5 years.

Should you require further information on this matter, please contact: Alfred Sherman (asherman@jdf.cl) and/or Felipe Ovalle (fovalle@jdf.cl).