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Hiring in Uruguay: employer registration, the unified work record, the labor book, pay slips and contract terms

Last verified: 2026-10-27 · Status: Stable

Uruguay has no general written contract requirement for ordinary employment, but every employer must record each worker's activity group, category, hours and pay with the BPS, and report changes within 15 calendar days. The BPS generates the Unified Work Record (Planilla de Trabajo Unificada), each establishment keeps a registered Labor Record Book for overtime, schedule changes and accidents, and every payment needs a detailed pay slip kept for the claim period. Agency and outsourced staff must be told their terms in writing before they start, telework must be agreed in writing, and statutory trial periods appear only in specific regimes such as the 2026 employment promotion contracts.

USD figures use UYU 40.214 per US dollar, the BCU quotation for DLS. USA BILLETE on 26 October 2026, retrieved from the BCU quotations service on 27 October 2026; conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Deadline to register changes in a worker's category, hours or pay with the BPS	15 daysDecreto Nº 278/017 art. 2, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Deadline to register the Labor Record Book after activity starts	10 business daysDecreto Nº 278/017 art. 13, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Deadline to record a work accident in the Labor Record Book	24 hoursDecreto Nº 278/017 art. 16, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Deadline to report lost or stolen labor documents to the police	48 hoursDecreto Nº 278/017 art. 29, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Trial period in employment promotion contracts of up to 9 months / 12 months	45 / 60 daysLey Nº 20.506 art. 10, as of 2026-10-27 · in force

The rule

1. Every private sector employer with staff must register with the Banco de Previsión Social (BPS), together with the ordinary BPS registration data, each worker's Wage Council group and subgroup, job category, working day with breaks and weekly rest, and the form, amount and make up of pay. Any change to those data must be registered within 15 calendar days of the change. A full time worker must receive at least the minimum for the category fixed by the Wage Council decision or collective agreement for the employer's group.
Cost to do it: No fee is set by Decreto 278/017; the cost is the payroll provider or in house time to load the data on the BPS system.
Example: A worker hired on UYU 60,000 a month as an administrative clerk must be registered with group, subgroup, category, schedule and pay when the BPS registration is made; a raise to UYU 64,000 must be registered within 15 days. / UYU 60,000 is about US$1,492; the raise to UYU 64,000 is about US$1,591.Decreto Nº 278/017 (Unified Work Record), Art. 1, 2, 5 and 25, 2017-10-02 official text · verified 2026-10-27

2. The BPS issues the Unified Work Record (Planilla de Trabajo Unificada), a report of employer data and of every active worker and those who left in the last calendar year (category, start and exit dates, base pay, schedule, breaks and weekly rest). Employer and Labor Inspectorate access it on the BPS website, and the employer must make it accessible to its workers. Pay may be marked confidential only for senior staff not covered by the applicable Wage Council decision or collective agreement.Decreto Nº 278/017, Art. 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12, 2017-10-02 official text · verified 2026-10-27

3. Each establishment must keep a Labor Record Book (Libro de Registro Laboral), registered with the Labor Inspectorate (IGTSS) or the local Labor Office within ten business days from the day after activity starts, foliated with at least 30 folios and opened with the company, Wage Council group, BPS number and work accident policy number. The employer records schedule and shift changes before they apply, overtime, daily hours of workers without fixed schedules, work accidents within 24 hours, and agreements to split leave; inspectors note their visits in it. Full books are kept two more years.
Cost to do it: No fee is set in the decree; the book itself is a stationery cost.Decreto Nº 278/017, Art. 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18, 2017-10-02 official text · verified 2026-10-27

4. Every employer, including household employers, must issue a pay slip for every payment, showing the worker's identification, start date and category, the employer's BPS, BSE and RUT numbers, each pay item (salary, overtime, holidays, night work, seniority, year end bonus, leave pay, vacation bonus, severance), each deduction, the payment date and a statement that last month's social security contributions were paid. Slips may be electronic if workers can view them remotely and get paper on request; they must be kept for as long as the labor credits they prove can be claimed.Decreto Nº 278/017, Art. 19, 20, 21 and 23, 2017-10-02 official text · verified 2026-10-27

5. Before leave starts, the employer must enter in the Labor Record Book a list with each worker's name, start date, leave start and end dates and the worker's signature. If labor documents are destroyed, lost or stolen, the company must report it to the police within 48 hours and replace them within three business days after that. Household employers are exempt from the registration, unified record, labor book and leave list chapters.Decreto Nº 278/017, Art. 24, 27 and 29, 2017-10-02 official text · verified 2026-10-27

6. Workers hired through subcontractors, intermediaries or labor suppliers must be informed in writing, before they start, of their conditions, salary and the company for which they will work, and the employer must hand a written detail with each payment. Temporary agency workers may not receive less than the Wage Council or collective agreement benefits for their category in the user company's activity.Ley Nº 18.099 (Outsourcing); Ley Nº 18.251, Ley 18.099 art. 4 and 5; Ley 18.251 art. 9, 2007-01-24 official text · verified 2026-10-27

7. Telework must be agreed in writing in the employment contract or an annex, at hiring or later, stating the place of work, any hybrid pattern, time ranges, rest and disconnection times, any attendance recording system and how equipment is provided.Ley Nº 19.978 (Telework); Decreto Nº 86/022, Ley 19.978 art. 3 and 5; Decreto 86/022 art. 3, 2021-08-20 official text · verified 2026-10-27

8. Contracts signed under the employment promotion regime of Ley 20.506 last between 6 and 12 months, must be authorized by the Ministry of Labor (MTSS) and carry a statutory trial period of 45 calendar days for contracts of up to 9 months and 60 calendar days for 12 month contracts; after the trial period, early dismissal triggers the statutory severance. None of the general statutes cited on this page sets a trial period for ordinary employment, so trial periods elsewhere depend on the applicable Wage Council decision or collective agreement.Ley Nº 20.506 (Promotion of decent work), Art. 10 and 12, 2026-06-26 official text · verified 2026-10-27 · changed: Ley Nº 20.506, promulgated 26 June 2026 and published 17 July 2026, replaced most of the employment promotion regime of Ley Nº 19.973 and set these contract terms and trial periods.

Document	When	Norm
BPS registration of worker with group, category, hours and pay	At registration of the worker	Art. 2 and 25
Registration of changes to those data	Within 15 calendar days	Art. 2
Labor Record Book registered with IGTSS or Labor Office	Within 10 business days of starting activity	Art. 13
Overtime and schedule changes in the Labor Record Book	Schedule changes before they apply; overtime as worked	Art. 16
Work accident entry	Within 24 hours	Art. 16
Leave list signed by workers	Before leave starts	Art. 24
Pay slip	With every payment	Art. 19
Written terms for outsourced or agency workers	Before work starts	Ley 18.251 art. 9
Written telework agreement	At hiring or before switching	Ley 19.978 art. 5

Employer documents and deadlines (Decreto Nº 278/017 unless stated)

Worked example

A foreign owned software company opens its Montevideo office on Monday 2 November 2026 with five employees. It registers each worker with the BPS showing group, category, schedule and pay when the workers are registered, registers the Labor Record Book with the Labor Inspectorate within ten business days counted from 3 November, records the BSE accident policy number on the first folio, and issues electronic pay slips through a portal with paper copies on request.
A developer on UYU 120,000 a month (about US$2,984) moves to three days a week at home: the switch is documented in a written telework annex; if it was agreed after an office based start, either side can return to the office within 90 days with seven days' notice.

Step by step

1. Classify the business in the right Wage Council group and subgroup and identify each worker's category and minimum.
2. Register the company and each worker with the BPS, loading the category, schedule, breaks, weekly rest and pay data.
3. Take out the work accident and occupational illness insurance with the Banco de Seguros del Estado before work starts and note the policy number.
4. Register the Labor Record Book for each establishment within ten business days of starting activity.
5. Put written terms in place where needed: telework annexes, agency or outsourcing notices, and Ley 20.506 contracts authorized by the MTSS.
6. Issue a compliant pay slip with every payment and keep slips and payroll data for the five year labor credit period.
7. Register any change in category, schedule or pay within 15 calendar days.

Common traps

Marking pay as confidential is only allowed for senior staff outside the Wage Council decision or collective agreement; using it for covered staff is an infraction.
An inspector who finds no registered Labor Record Book or unrecorded overtime can fine the company between 1 and 150 days' wages per affected worker under Ley 15.903 art. 289.
Pay slips are evidence: keep them for the full period in which labor credits can be claimed, not just the tax period.
A telework switch that lasts more than 45 days is presumed permanent unless agreed otherwise (Decreto 86/022 art. 4).
Do not assume a trial period: outside regimes such as Ley 20.506, check the Wage Council decision or collective agreement before relying on one.

Sources

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