The Government will modify the labor regime for prisoners: no bonus or holidays

Within the framework of the Labor Modernization Act recently approved by Congress, the Executive made it expressly established that the provisions of the regulation will not be applicable to those who are in a context of confinement. The definition opens the door to a new regulation that will seek to end the equalization between interns and workers

in the formal market.

The decision began to take shape during the administration of former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and will now be deepened by her successor, Alejandra Monteoliva. The objective is to prevent the continuing application of judicial rulings that forced the State to pay bonus, holidays and full eight-hour days to detainees, even if they had not worked all that time

.

The central point was reflected in paragraph H of article 1 of the reform, which explicitly excludes persons deprived of their liberty from the scope of common labor legislation. In the Casa Rosada, they argue that the drafting seeks to close judicial interpretations that, in the past, extended benefits specific to the Employment Contract Act to the prison environment

.

The most relevant precedent dates back to 2014, when Chamber II of the Federal Criminal Cassation Chamber decided to equate interns' working conditions with those of free workers. From there, the Federal Penitentiary Service, through the Penitentiary Cooperation Agency (EnCOPE), had to settle salaries based on the Minimum Living and Mobile Wage and

recognize additional benefits.

In 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation upheld another ruling that consolidated that interpretation, rejecting an appeal from the SPF in a case brought by inmates of Unit 13 of La Pampa. Since then, in different establishments, full days have been paid even when the actual workload was lower, provided that the intern was available.

The Government maintains that the new phase will seek to restore the original meaning of intra-wall work: resocialization and job training, but without assimilating it to employment in freedom. Official sources point out that economic consideration and compliance with international standards will be maintained, although differentiated from the

general regime.

In addition, the reform included the repeal of two articles of Law 24,660 on the Execution of the Sentence that linked prison labor to common labor regulations. As it turned out, the wording was carefully drafted to avoid future

judicial challenges.

In the Executive's view, the measure corrects a distortion generated during years of legislative inaction and rulings that, they consider, blurred the nature of the prison system. With the new legal basis, the Ministry of Security will advance specific regulations that redefine rights and obligations within prisons

.