The Government established the Minimum Legal Wage for 2020 [1] in COP $877.803 per month (Approx. USD $265,53) [2]. This implies a 6% increase over the Minimum Wage for 2019.
IMPLICATIONS:
The Minimum Integral Salary as of January 1st, 2020 is COP $11.411.439 (USD $ Approx. 3.451,9) per month.
The employees earning up to two (2) Minimum Legal Wages per month (COP $1.755.606 – $531 USD Approx.) and have been working for the Company for over three months, are entitled to receive work clothing and footwear provision. Employers shall comply with this obligation every four months, providing such work clothing and footwear to their employees on April 30th, August 31st and December 20th, each year.
The employees earning up to two (2) Minimum Legal Wages per month (COP $1.755.606 – USD $531 Approx.) are entitled to receive a Legal Transportation Allowance, which for 2020 is equivalent to COP $102.854 (USD $31,11 Approx.) per month. This is also an increase of 6%. The value of this Allowance is not considered a part of the employee’s salary; hence, it shall not be taken into account when calculating the payroll fees nor the social security contributions. Nevertheless, the Legal Transportation Allowance must be taken into account for calculating the fringe benefits, as per legal mandate.
The employees earning a salary of up to four (4) Minimum Legal Wages, (up to COP $3.511.212–USD $1.062,12 Approx.) that have dependent relatives and whose income, in addition to those of their spouse or significant other, do not exceed the equivalent to six (6) minimum legal wages (COP $5.266.818 – USD $1.593,18 Approx.), are eligible to receive a Family Allowance for each relative dependent. Furthermore, the entity responsible for paying the mentioned allowance will be the Family Welfare Fund (Caja de Compensación Familiar) where the employee is affiliated and the amount of the allowance is fixed for each geographic department by the Superintendence of Family Allowance every year, on January.
The employees earning a salary equivalent to four (4) Minimum Legal Wages (COP $3.511.212 –USD $1.062,12 Approx.) or more, shall make a contribution of 1% from their contribution base to the Solidarity Pension Fund. In addition, employees having social contribution bases equivalent to sixteen (16) Minimum Legal Wages (COP $14.044.848 –USD $4.248,49 Approx.) or more, shall contribute in an additional percentage to the Solidarity Pension Fund as indicated below:
