Countries › Chile › Guide › 7. Labor and employment › Employment contracts in Chile: written contract, fixed term and specific job contracts, part time, the 85 percent Chilean staff rule, internal regulations and hiring restrictions

Employment contracts in Chile: written contract, fixed term and specific job contracts, part time, the 85 percent Chilean staff rule, internal regulations and hiring restrictions

Last verified: 2026-10-26 · Status: Stable

Any personal service under the employer's direction is an employment contract in Chile, whatever the paperwork says, and it must be in writing within 15 days (5 days for specific job contracts or contracts under 30 days). Fixed term contracts are capped at one year (two for managers and degree holders) and turn indefinite on a second renewal or if the worker stays on after expiry. Employers with more than 25 workers must keep at least 85 percent Chilean staff, those with 10 or more permanent workers need internal regulations, and those with 100 or more must fill 1 percent of jobs with people with disabilities.

USD figures use the Central Bank exchange rate of CLP 986.58 per US dollar published in the Diario Oficial of 23 October 2026 (Ley Nº 18.840 art. 44). UTM amounts use the SII value of CLP 72,151 for October 2026. Amounts capped in UF use the SII value of CLP 41,057.20 for 30 September 2026, the value the law applies to payments made in October 2026; other UF amounts use CLP 41,205.16 for 23 October 2026. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Deadline to put an employment contract in writing (general rule)	15 daysCódigo del Trabajo art. 9, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Deadline to put in writing a specific job contract or one lasting under 30 days	5 daysCódigo del Trabajo art. 9, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Maximum length of a fixed term contract (general rule)	12 monthsCódigo del Trabajo art. 159 Nº 4, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Maximum length of a fixed term contract for managers and degree holders	24 monthsCódigo del Trabajo art. 159 Nº 4, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Maximum weekly hours of a part time contract	30 hoursCódigo del Trabajo art. 40 bis, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Minimum share of Chilean nationals in the workforce (employers with more than 25 workers)	85 %Código del Trabajo art. 19 and art. 20, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Headcount up to which the 85 percent rule does not apply	25 workersCódigo del Trabajo art. 19, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Permanent workers from which internal regulations are mandatory	10 workersCódigo del Trabajo art. 153, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Disability hiring quota for companies with 100 or more workers	1 %Código del Trabajo art. 157 bis, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
General fine ceiling per breach for a large company	60 UTMCódigo del Trabajo art. 506, as of 2026-10-26 · in force

The rule

1. An employment contract exists whenever a person provides personal services under the dependence and subordination of an employer for pay, and any such service is presumed to be employment. The contract is consensual but must be put in writing and signed in two copies within 15 days of the worker starting, or within 5 days for contracts for a specific job, task or service or lasting under 30 days. If the worker refuses to sign, the employer sends the contract to the Labour Inspectorate; if the employer does nothing, the terms declared by the worker are presumed to be the contract.
Cost to do it: No filing fee. A late written contract is fined 1 to 5 UTM.
Example: CLP 72,151 to CLP 360,755 per worker at the October 2026 UTM. / About US$73 to US$366 per worker.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 7, art. 8 and art. 9, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

2. The contract must state at least: place and date; the parties with nationality, domicile and email address and the worker's birth and start dates; the nature of the services and the place or city where they are performed (two or more specific functions may be listed); amount, form and period of pay; length and distribution of working hours (or a reference to the shift system in the internal regulations); the term; and other agreed terms, including benefits in kind. Changes are recorded in writing and signed, but statutory or collective pay adjustments need not be, provided pay is updated in the contract at least once a year.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 10 and art. 11, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

3. The employer may unilaterally change the nature of the services or the place of work only to similar tasks within the same place or city and without harm to the worker, and may move the start of the working day by up to 60 minutes for reasons affecting the whole business or a unit, with at least 30 days notice. The worker may complain to the Labour Inspector within 30 working days.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 12, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

4. Contracts are indefinite unless agreed otherwise. A fixed term contract may not exceed one year, or two years for managers and holders of a professional or technical degree from a recognised higher education institution. It becomes indefinite if the worker keeps working with the employer's knowledge after expiry or on its second renewal, and a worker hired under more than two fixed term contracts for 12 months or more within 15 months is presumed to be indefinite. A contract for a specific job or task ends when the job is finished.
Cost to do it: Fixed term and specific job contracts carry employer unemployment insurance of 3 percent of taxable pay instead of 2.4 percent (Ley Nº 19.728 art. 5).DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 159 Nº 4 and Nº 5, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

5. When a specific job contract that lasted one month or more ends because the job is finished, the employer must pay 2.5 days of pay for each month worked and fraction over 15 days, calculated on the art. 172 monthly pay (capped at 90 UF).
Example: A worker on CLP 900,000 a month for 8 months receives 20 days of pay, CLP 600,000. / About US$608.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 163, third paragraph, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

6. Part time contracts are those of no more than 30 hours a week. Part time workers have all the rights of full time workers, may agree overtime (on a base not below the prorated minimum wage), work a continuous day of at most 10 hours with a 30 to 60 minute lunch break, and the art. 50 cap on the legal profit share may be reduced in proportion to their hours. Severance is calculated on the average pay over the contract, or over the last 11 years, adjusted for inflation, if that gives more than the general rule.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 40 bis, 40 bis A, 40 bis B and 40 bis D, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

7. At least 85 percent of the workers of one employer must be Chilean nationals, except for employers with no more than 25 workers. The count covers all workers in Chile, not each branch; specialised technical staff are excluded; foreigners whose spouse, civil partner or children are Chilean, or who are widowed from a Chilean spouse, count as Chilean, as do foreigners resident in Chile for more than five years.
Example: A company with 40 workers in Chile may have at most 6 foreign workers outside the exclusions (85 percent of 40 is 34). / No fee; the constraint is on headcount.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 19 and art. 20, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

8. Employers that normally have 10 or more permanent workers must issue internal regulations on order, hygiene and safety, covering at least hours and shifts, breaks, types of pay, place and time of payment, duties and prohibitions, sanctions (only verbal or written warnings and fines of up to 25 percent of daily pay), the harassment prevention protocol and the equal pay complaint procedure. A copy goes to the Ministry of Health and the Dirección del Trabajo within 5 days of taking effect, and workers must be informed 30 days before it applies.
Cost to do it: Drafting time or adviser fees; no state fee.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 153, art. 154, art. 156 and art. 157, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

9. Companies with 100 or more workers must hire or keep hired at least 1 percent of people with a certified disability or receiving a disability pension, and register those contracts on the Dirección del Trabajo website within 15 days. A company that cannot comply for grounded reasons (the nature of its functions or lack of applicants) must instead sign service contracts with companies employing such persons or make cash donations to qualifying projects, each worth at least 24 minimum monthly incomes per worker not hired.
Cost to do it: Alternative compliance of at least 24 minimum monthly incomes a year per missing hire.
Example: 24 x CLP 553,553 = CLP 13,285,272 a year per missing hire. / About US$13,466.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, as amended by Ley Nº 21.015, Art. 157 bis and art. 157 ter, 2017-06-15 official text · verified 2026-10-26

10. Employment relations must be free of violence and discrimination. Job offers may not require any protected condition (including sex, age, nationality, union membership or disability). An employer may not make hiring conditional on the absence of financial or commercial debts reported in credit registries, nor ask for such a certificate, except for managers with general powers of administration and staff handling funds or securities, and may not require proof of not having had cancer.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 2, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

11. Two or more companies are treated as a single employer for labour and social security purposes when they share common labour management and have, for example, similar or complementary products or services or a common controller; mere common ownership is not enough. They are jointly and severally liable for labour and social security obligations, and their workers may unionise and bargain across them.
Cost to do it: Where a court finds the group was used to evade obligations, fines of 20 to 300 UTM apply (art. 507).
Example: CLP 1,443,020 to CLP 21,645,300. / About US$1,463 to US$21,940.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, as amended by Ley Nº 20.760, Art. 3 and art. 507, 2014-07-09 official text · verified 2026-10-26

12. Persons aged 18 or over contract freely. Adolescents aged 15 to 17 may be hired only under the Code's conditions, and hiring children under 15 is prohibited, save the limited exceptions in art. 16.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 13, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

13. Breaches without a specific penalty are fined by company size: micro companies 1 to 5 UTM, small 1 to 10 UTM, medium 2 to 40 UTM and large 3 to 60 UTM.
Example: A large company faces CLP 216,453 to CLP 4,329,060 per breach. / About US$219 to US$4,388.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Ministerio del Trabajo, Código del Trabajo, Art. 506, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

Type	Maximum length	Becomes indefinite when	Severance on expiry	Employer unemployment insurance
Indefinite	None	Default	Only on dismissal for company needs (art. 161, art. 163)	2.4 percent
Fixed term	1 year; 2 years for managers and degree holders	Worker stays on after expiry, second renewal, or more than two contracts covering 12 of 15 months	None	3 percent
Specific job or task	Length of the job	Worker stays on with employer's knowledge (art. 159)	2.5 days per month worked if the contract lasted one month or more (art. 163)	3 percent
Part time (up to 30 hours a week)	Any of the above	As above	As above, base averaged under art. 40 bis D	As above

Contract types compared (Código del Trabajo)

Worked example

A foreign owned company opens a Santiago office in November 2026 with 30 staff, 6 of them expatriate engineers without Chilean family ties or five years of residence. With 30 workers the 85 percent rule applies (more than 25), so at most 4 non excluded foreigners are allowed (85 percent of 30 is 25.5, so 26 Chileans are needed). If the engineers qualify as specialised technical staff they are left out of the count (art. 20 Nº 2).
It hires a project analyst on a fixed term contract for 12 months. If it renews twice, or the analyst keeps working after the end date, the contract becomes indefinite and future dismissal costs severance.
With 30 permanent workers it must issue internal regulations, file them with the Ministry of Health and the Dirección del Trabajo within 5 days of taking effect, and post them 30 days before they apply.

Step by step

Before the first hire: get the company RUT and start of activities with the SII and join a work accident insurance administrator (Ley Nº 16.744).
Day 1 to day 15 (day 5 for specific job or short contracts): sign the written contract in two copies with the art. 10 contents; keep a copy at the workplace or in the authorised centralised digital file.
Choose the contract type deliberately: track renewals of fixed term contracts so the second renewal does not convert them by accident.
Check the 85 percent ratio before hiring foreigners once headcount passes 25, and the work permit rules on the Immigration page.
At 10 permanent workers: adopt internal regulations including the harassment protocol; at 100 workers: meet the 1 percent disability quota or its alternatives and register the contracts with the Dirección del Trabajo.

Common traps

Labels do not matter: a "consultant" working personally under the company's direction is an employee under art. 7 and art. 8, with contributions and severance owed.
A second renewal of a fixed term contract converts it to indefinite, even if each contract is short.
The 85 percent rule counts all workers in Chile together; opening a second branch does not create a separate quota.
Asking candidates for a credit report is unlawful for most roles (art. 2).
Running several companies under common labour management can lead a court to declare a single employer, with joint liability and cross company bargaining (art. 3).

Sources

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