1. The Constitutional Court, through Sentence C-187/24 supported by ILO Convention 156 (as its acronym in Spanish OIT) on equal opportunities and treatment between men and women workers with family responsibilities, establishes as enforceable the law that ratifies the convention which, in addition to establishing other obligations, the prohibition on employers to be able to dismiss a worker due to family responsibilities, that is, if there are responsibilities that affect the performance of the function and this is the reason for the dismissal, therefore, if to give, the worker will be entitled to their reimbursement.
It is estimated that the Colombian state will take one to two years to adapt its legislation, and then it will wait twelve (12) months for its entry into force.
See:
https://www.suinjuriscol.gov.co
2.The Constitutional Court, through ruling T-076 of 2024, published on March 8, 2024, asks employers to carry out due process and guarantee the right to enhanced job stability when an employee is under medical treatment and in the qualification process of loss of work capacity, so employers, before dismissing a person, must consider the criteria established by constitutional jurisprudence regarding job stability enhanced by health, for which the constitutional court makes two clarifications:
(i) A worker who enjoys this immunity may be dismissed if there is an objective reason that does not respond to a discriminatory act. However, this must be monitored and authorized by a labor inspector.
(ii) It not only applies to people with disabilities but also to those who have health problems.
The above specifies that employers must manage the corresponding validations to determine dismissal with authorization from the Ministry of Labor and due justification.
See:
https://www.corteconstitucional.gov.co
3.The third chamber of the Constitutional Court in Sentence T-202 of 2024, issued on June 4th, 2024, validates the protection of the fundamental rights of non-discrimination, equal opportunities, work, and human dignity to due process, privacy, and the exercise of the sexual and reproductive rights of a woman who was discriminated against and excluded in an advanced stage of a selection process based on her state of pregnancy.
It is mentioned that the political constitution enshrines the special protection of pregnant women, among other sentences that have been recognized, and the need to analyze a principle dictated by authority when faced with a subject of special protection, so guardianship is one of the correct means to analyze the situation.
In this ruling, the Court ruled in favor of the employee, arguing that women's reproductive decisions should not be considered within the selection criteria, generating discrimination in employment.
See:
https://www.corteconstitucional.gov.co
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