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Outsourcing, labor suppliers and platform workers in Uruguay: principal liability and the 2025 platform law

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

A company that uses subcontractors, intermediaries or labor suppliers answers jointly for their workers' wages, social security contributions and accident insurance for the period of the contract, but its liability drops to subsidiary if it exercises its right to check their compliance documents, and it may withhold payments to cover unpaid items. Agency workers cannot receive less than the user company's category minimums, and outsourcing cannot replace strikers or workers on suspension. Since May 2025 delivery and ride hailing platform workers, employed or self employed, have algorithm transparency rights, minimum pay per task or hour linked to the minimum wage, a 48 hour weekly cap per platform for employees, accident insurance and collective bargaining rights.

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

Principal liability for contractors' labor and social security debts	Joint; subsidiary if the principal exercises its right to check compliance Ley Nº 18.099 art. 1; Ley Nº 18.251 art. 6, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Maximum weekly hours for an employed worker on one platform	48 hoursLey Nº 20.396 art. 15, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Worker access to platform data after the relationship ends	1 yearLey Nº 20.396 art. 8, as of 2026-10-27 · in force
Platform work law in force (90 days after 13 Feb 2025 promulgation)	2025-05 dateLey Nº 20.396 art. 22, as of 2026-10-27 · in force

The rule

1. Any employer or business that uses subcontractors, intermediaries or labor suppliers is jointly liable for their labor obligations to the workers assigned, their social security contributions, work accident premiums and BSE sanctions and recoveries, limited to obligations accrued during the outsourcing period. Agreements between the debtors on how to split the obligations cannot be opposed to the workers.Ley Nº 18.099 as reworded by Ley Nº 18.251, Ley 18.099 art. 1 and 2; Ley 18.251 art. 8, 2008-01-06 official text · verified 2026-10-27

2. Subcontracting covers works or services integrated in the principal's organization or part of its normal activity, main or accessory (maintenance, cleaning, security), inside or outside its premises; an intermediary hires workers to serve a third party; a labor supplier or private employment agency places its workers at the disposal of a user company that directs them. Occasional works or services are excluded, but seasonal work is not occasional.Ley Nº 18.251, Art. 1 and 2, 2008-01-06 official text · verified 2026-10-27

3. The principal may require from each contractor the nominal BPS work history declaration and payment receipt, the BPS certificate of regular payment, the BSE accident insurance certificate, and the work record, pay slips and applicable collective agreement. If it exercises this right its liability becomes subsidiary (only if the contractor does not pay); if it does not, it remains jointly liable. If the contractor does not prove compliance, the principal may withhold the amounts due and pay workers, the BPS and the BSE directly.
Cost to do it: Administrative cost of a monthly document check per contractor; no official fee.
Example: A principal paying a cleaning contractor UYU 400,000 a month withholds UYU 60,000 when the contractor cannot show the month's BPS receipt, and pays the BPS directly. / UYU 400,000 is about US$9,947; UYU 60,000 about US$1,492.Ley Nº 18.251, Art. 4, 5 and 6, 2008-01-06 official text · verified 2026-10-27

4. The principal's liability covers obligations from ratified ILO conventions, laws, decrees, Wage Council decisions, registered collective agreements and the contractor's records, and both employer and employee social security contributions, but not fines, surcharges, taxes or administrative sanctions, which follow each company's own degree of responsibility.Ley Nº 18.251, Art. 7, 2008-01-06 official text · verified 2026-10-27

5. Outsourcing cannot be used to replace workers on suspension unemployment benefits or in a collective dispute (save essential services rules). Workers supplied by temporary agencies cannot receive lower benefits than those set for their category in the user company's activity. A company that uses subcontractors also remains subsidiarily liable for the minimum wages fixed for their workers.Ley Nº 18.099; Ley Nº 10.449, Ley 18.099 art. 3 and 5; Ley 10.449 art. 3, 2007-01-24 official text · verified 2026-10-27

6. The platform work law applies to people who deliver goods or provide paid urban passenger transport through digital platforms, whether employed or self employed, regardless of where the platform company is established. Platforms must apply equality and non discrimination in algorithms, inform workers about automated monitoring and decision systems and their main parameters, give a written explanation and a human contact for significant automated decisions, assess and prevent algorithmic health and safety risks, train workers before they start, and let workers access data about them until one year after exit. Uruguayan courts have international jurisdiction over disputes. These conditions are not by themselves evidence of employment or of autonomy.Ley Nº 20.396 (Platform work), Art. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 22, 2025-02-13 official text · verified 2026-10-27 · changed: Ley Nº 20.396, promulgated 13 February 2025, entered into force 90 days after promulgation and was regulated by Decreto Nº 145/025 of 8 July 2025.

7. For employed platform workers, working time runs from log in to log out except declared pause time, work may not exceed 48 hours a week on the same platform, and pay by task or hour must give at least the proportional value of the national minimum wage. All platform workers are covered by the work accident insurance law; self employed platform workers may opt for the monotributo regime and may unionize and bargain collectively. Infractions are sanctioned under Ley 15.903 art. 289.Ley Nº 20.396; Decreto Nº 145/025, Ley 20.396 art. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 21, 2025-07-08 official text · verified 2026-10-27

8. For work accident insurance purposes an employee is anyone doing habitual or occasional paid work in a relationship of subordination, whatever the number of workers; sports and artistic performers are excluded.Ley Nº 16.074, Art. 3, 1989-10-10 official text · verified 2026-10-27

Document	Issued by	Purpose
Nominal work history declaration and payment receipt	BPS	Shows contributions declared and paid per worker
Certificate of regular payment	BPS	Shows the contractor is up to date
Accident insurance certificate	Banco de Seguros del Estado	Shows workers are insured
Work record, pay slips and collective agreement	Contractor	Shows wages paid against category minimums

Monthly compliance check on contractors (Ley 18.251 art. 4)

Worked example

A data center operator outsources security to a firm with 12 guards. It requests the four sets of documents each month; one month the contractor cannot show the BPS receipt, so the operator withholds the contribution amount from the invoice and pays the BPS directly, keeping its liability subsidiary.
A food delivery app operating in Montevideo through riders classified as self employed must still publish how its algorithm assigns orders, give riders a contact person for account deactivations, cover them with accident insurance and let them access their ratings for a year after they leave.

Step by step

1. Map every contractor whose staff work in the company's normal activity, including cleaning, maintenance and security.
2. Put contractual rights to receive compliance documents and to withhold payments.
3. Collect and review BPS, BSE and payroll documents every month and keep the evidence.
4. Withhold and pay directly when documents are missing.
5. For platform businesses, prepare the algorithm information document, risk assessment, training and data access process.

Common traps

Not asking for the documents keeps the principal jointly liable for the contractor's whole labor debt during the contract.
Occasional services are excluded, but seasonal work is not occasional.
Agency workers must be paid at least the user company's category minimums.
Calling platform workers self employed does not avoid the platform law's transparency, pay, safety and bargaining rules.

Sources

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