Argentina: New daycare mandate for companies with 100 or more employees

Employer Action Code: Act

In late 2021, the Supreme Court ordered the federal government to implement a long-standing but previously unimplemented provision of the Employment Contracts Law that requires employers with 100 or more workers to provide daycare services for the children of employees. The resulting ruling decree (No. 144/2022) was published in the Official Gazette on March 23, 2022, and took effect on the same day; companies have one year to comply with the new requirement.

Key details

Notable aspects of the ruling decree include:

• Companies with 100 or more employees are required to provide daycare services for employees with children who are between the ages of 45 days and three years.
• Employers in a shared industrial complex or located within two kilometers from each other may set up joint daycare facilities and services within that radius.
• Alternately, collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) may provide for non-taxable reimbursement by the employer for all or a portion of the cost of daycare services. The level of monthly reimbursement must equal the lesser of 40% of the monthly minimum wage for caregivers (i.e., 37,973 Argentine pesos [ARS] as from March 1, 2022) or actual monthly daycare expenses (duly documented). The amount of reimbursement for part-time employees is prorated.
• Employees engaged under teleworking contracts also may be provided the benefit in the form of a non-taxable reimbursement (rather than actual daycare services) subject to the same conditions described above in the case of a CBA.

Employer implications

All municipalities provide childcare services, but the quality and availability vary considerably; as a result, a number of private providers have been established in large urban areas. Some of the companies surveyed by WTW (25%) already provide childcare benefits in the form of a monthly allowance. Beginning in 2021, employer reimbursements of the cost of daycare services for children under the age of three became tax-deductible (up to 40% of the basic tax exemption of 252,565 ARS) for employees working in establishments without a daycare facility. Though the deadline is March 23, 2023, affected companies should begin to consider how they will comply with the new requirements.

Contact

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Marcela Angeli

Talent & Rewards Director

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