Chile government seeks to revamp 40‑hour workweek averaging, keeping 52‑hour cap

The administration of President José Antonio Kast introduced a bill to modify how the statutory 40‑hour average workweek is calculated. The proposal would lengthen the reference period from the current four‑week cycle to 15‑16 weeks for most sectors and up to 52 weeks for highly seasonal industries such as tourism and gastronomy. The change is intended to give employers flexibility to match fluctuating demand while preserving the legal 40‑hour weekly average.

The bill does not alter the existing 40‑hour weekly limit nor the ceiling of 52 hours of combined regular and overtime work already set in Article 31 of Chile’s Labor Code. Confusion has arisen because the same number “52” appears both as the maximum weekly hours and as the possible 52‑week averaging period for seasonal sectors.

Minister of Labor Tomás Rau clarified that the average will still work out to 40 hours per week, with weeks of higher or lower hours balancing over the extended cycle. Senator Rojo Edwards of the Republican Party defended the measure, arguing that flexibility is preferable to rigid 8‑to‑5 schedules, while critics warned about the impact on families and workers’ rest. Unemployment in Chile remains above 8%, with higher rates among women, adding urgency to the debate.