El Salvador Employment Law

Duration of Annual Leave – Employees shall be entitled to 15 days of paid annual leave after one year of continuous work with the same employer.

Any public holiday or weekly rest which falls during annual leave shall be included in the annual leave period, and will not be extended. Annual leave shall not begin on a public holiday or weekly rest. Compensatory weekly rest may not be included within the annual leave period.

The years of continuous work will be counted from the date on which the employee began to provide his services to the employer and will expire on the corresponding date of each of the subsequent years.   

To be entitled to annual leaves, the employee must have worked a minimum of 200 days in the year, but does not need to work every day of the week, nor is the employee required to work on each day the maximum number of ordinary hours.

It will be understood that the continuity of work is not interrupted in those cases in which the employment contract is suspended, but the days that the suspension lasts will not be counted as days worked for the purposes of annual leave entitlement.

The employer must indicate the time in which the employee must enjoy the annual leave and notify the employee of the start date, at least 30 days in advance. 

The period within which the employee must enjoy the annual leave entitlement will be 4 months if the number of employees in the employer’s service does not exceed 100, and 6 months if the number of employees is greater than 100. Both periods are counted from the date on which the employee completes the year of service. 

Pay – Employee shall be paid the ordinary salary corresponding to said period plus 30% thereof. To calculate the remuneration that the employee must receive as vacation benefits, the following will be taken into account: 

• • The basic salary earned on the date on which they must be enjoyed when the salary has been stipulated per unit of time; and, 
  • The basic salary resulting from dividing the ordinary salaries that the employee has earned during the six months before the date on which he must enjoy them, between the number of working days included in said period, in the case of any other form of stipulation of the salary. 

The remuneration for annual leave must be paid immediately before the employee begins to enjoy it and will cover all the days that fall between the date on which they go on annual leave and those on which they must return to work.

It is prohibited to compensate annual leave in money or kind. Likewise, it is prohibited to divide or accumulate annual leave periods; and the employer’s obligation to give them corresponds to the employee’s obligation to take them. 

The employer may provide that all employees of the company or establishment collectively enjoy, within the same period, the paid annual vacation. In such case, it will not be necessary for the worker to complete the year of service, nor the 200 days.

The employer may also, in agreement with the majority of employees in the company or establishment, divide annual leave into two or more periods within the work year. If there are two, each period must last at least 10 days; and, if there are three or more, 7 days at least.

Termination of Employment – When an employment contract is declared terminated with responsibility for the employer, or when the employee is dismissed without legal cause, they will have the right to be paid the remuneration for the days that, in proportion to the time worked. But if the continuous year of service has already ended, even if the contract ends without liability for the employer, the employer must pay the employee the remuneration to which they are entitled as vacation time. Article 177-187 of the Work Code.

Duration of Sick Leave – Employees shall be entitled to paid sick leave in the following manner – 

• • Category 1 – Employees who have one or more years of service are entitled to 60 days of paid sick leave at a rate of 75% of the base salary. 
  • Category 2 – Employees with at least 5 months but less than 1 year of service are entitled to 40 days of paid sick leave at a rate of 75% of base salary. 
  • Category 3 – Employees with at least 1 month but less than 5 months of service are entitled to 20 days of paid sick leave at a rate of 75% of base salary. 

The term of service referred to above will be counted from the date on which the employee began to provide his services to the employer, and will expire on the corresponding date of the following months or years. 

During the continuing period of providing service to the employer, the employee who moves from one category to the other category within the 1st year shall have the right the enjoy 75% of his salary during the days that correspond to him in the category in which he is found, the date of becoming ill, deducting those already enjoyed in the lower categories in that same year. 

The employer will not be obliged to pay the sick leave pay of 75% when the reason for the common illness or accident can be attributed to the serious fault of the employee. If the employee’s fault has been proven before a respective Labor Judge, the employer may obtain a refund of the amount already paid and will be removed from the obligation of any future payment. The Judge shall, taking into account the circumstances, determine how the employee shall reimburse the employer the amount that the employer has already paid to the employee. 

Any employee who suffers from incapacitating chronic diseases that require frequent medical checks, and rehabilitation or that need specialized technical and medical care, and has prior validation of their attending physician may not be dismissed. Such job stability will begin after the corresponding medical diagnosis has been issued and will be extended for 3 months after the respective medical treatment has been completed. An employer cannot reduce their wages for these reasons. 

The Salvadorian Social Security Institute shall be obligated to cover the entire daily subsidy for the disability of the employee with incapacitating chronic diseases that require frequent medical checks, and rehabilitation or that need specialized technical and medical care after validation from the physician, for the duration of treatment as well as time required for recovery. Article 307-308B of the Work Code.

Duration of Leave – An employee shall be entitled to 16 weeks of maternity leave, 10 of which shall be compulsorily taken after the birth. To be eligible for the pay benefit, the employee must have 6 months of continuous employment with the same employer before childbirth. Nevertheless, the employee shall be entitled to maternity leave.

In the case of illness, which, according to a medical certificate, has occurred as a consequence of pregnancy, the employee has the right to supplementary prenatal leave, the duration of which will be determined by regulation. 

When the delivery occurs after the presumed date, the rest to be taken before the delivery will be extended until the actual date of delivery, and the postnatal rest period shall not be reduced. 

Pay – The employer is obliged to pay 75% of the basic salary to the pregnant worker in advance for the entire duration of the maternity leave. If the employer contributes to the Social Security System, payment for said leave will be borne by the Government.

Medical Certificate – To enjoy the maternity leave, the employee must present the employer with a medical certificate issued on plain paper, which shall state the pregnancy status, the probable date of pregnancy, and the possible delivery date. 

If the period of maternity leave has ended, and the employee verifies with a medical certificate that she is not in a position to return to work, the employment contract will continue to be suspended for the time necessary for her recovery, and the employer shall be obliged to pay sickness benefit. 

Breastfeeding Break – An employee who has given birth to a child, shall have the right to a breastfeeding break for up to 1 hour daily at their request. The break may be split into 2 breaks of 30 minutes each. An interruption for breastfeeding shall be counted as hours worked and paid accordingly. Article 309-313 of the Work Code.

Employees shall be entitled to 3 days of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. The leave shall be granted either continuously or distributed within the first 15 days from the birth of the child at the employee’s choice. In the case of adoptive parents, the period will be counted from the date on which the respective Adoption Sentence becomes final. 

Certificate Requirement – The employee must submit a Birth Certificate or Certification of the Adoption Sentence must be presented to enjoy the leave, as the case may be.  Article 29 of the Work Code.

In cases where work is interrupted due to unforeseen incidents or force majeure (such as a shortage of raw materials or essential driving forces), the employer may temporarily cease services for a period not exceeding 3 days. 

If the consequences of the unforeseen incident or force majeure are attributable to the employer, the employer will be obliged to pay the affected employee the equivalent of the full ordinary salaries that they no longer earn during the interruption. Otherwise, the employer’s obligation will only be to pay the equivalent of 50 percent of said salaries. 

If the unforeseen incident or force majeure produces only the reduction of the ordinary working day, the consequences of which are attributable to the employer, the employer will have the obligation to pay the affected employee, in addition to the salary for the time. worked an equivalent amount of pay to what they no longer accrue due to the reduction, regardless of the time the latter lasts.

If the consequences of the unforeseen incident or force majeure are not the fault of the employer, the latter’s obligation will be to pay the affected employee, in addition to the salary for the time worked, an equivalent to fifty percent of what they no longer earn due to the reduction, for up to a maximum period of 3 days. After these, employees will only earn the salary corresponding to the time they work. Article 33-34 of the Work Code.

Employee shall be entitled to paid/unpaid leave for the following reasons – 

• • • To fulfill public obligations established by law or ordered by a competent authority – The employer must pay the employee a benefit equivalent to the ordinary salary that he would have earned during the time required to fulfill the obligations established by law or ordered by the competent authority.
    • Employees shall be entitled to paid leave to fulfill family obligations, such as in the event of death or serious illness of their spouse, their family members (parents, children) as well as when it concerns persons who depend on the employee economically and who appear nominated in the respective employment contract. The duration of leave shall last as long as necessary, but the employer shall be obliged to pay the employee for the leave for 2 days in each calendar month and, in no case, more than 15 days in the same calendar year;
    • To enable the employee to carry out the essential tasks in exercising his duties for the necessary time, if he is a director of a professional association, and whenever the respective organization so requests. The duration of such leave is not defined in the law and is not a paid benefit. 
    • Victim of Violence Leave – Employees shall be entitled to paid leave for any physical or psychological inability of the employee caused by any type of violence they have suffered. This leave must be paid for the duration of the inability mentioned above; and,
    • Leave for Judicial and Administrative Proceeding for Victim of Violence – Employees shall be entitled to paid leave to comply with judicial or administrative proceedings or procedures, especially in family matters and in cases of violence against women. In these cases, the leave will be paid for the duration of the procedure or proceeding.

Article 29 of the Work Code.