New exception to the computation of the statute of limitations for the approval request action

Ministerial Agreement No. MDT-2021-219, which contains the Technical Regulations governing the Approval Procedure, establishes in its fourth provision the computation of the period of time for the statute of limitations to run. The general rule for the statute of limitations to run is from the date on which the determining events for requesting approval occurred.

There is an exception according to numeral 2 of article 172 of the Labor Code, which allows the approval in cases of lack of probity or immoral conduct of the employee; in this case, the statute of limitations is counted from the date on which the employer or his representative had knowledge of the facts. However, with the publication of the General Regulations of the Organic Law for the Promotion of the Violet Economy on November 24, 2023, a new exception to the general rule of the Ministerial Agreement Nr. MDT-2021-219.

Article 172, paragraph 8 of the Labor Code establishes as a cause for requesting the approval the “commission of harassment at work, either individually or in coordination with other individuals, towards a co-worker, towards the employer, or towards a subordinate in the company”. Precisely, the aforementioned Regulation, in Article 15, establishes that “the statute of limitations established in Article 636 of the Labor Code, in the cases of numeral 8 of Article 172 of the Labor Code, will be counted from the time the employer, through its representative or highest authority, had knowledge of the act committed”. Therefore, it is clear that in the case of numeral 8 the general rule is no longer applicable.

Finally, it is important to mention that the workplace harassment mentioned in numeral 8 includes all types of harassment, such as sexual harassment in the workplace and gender-based harassment.