ARGENTINA: NEW REGULATION OF EDUCATIONAL INTERNSHIPS

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On October 27, 2009 it was published on the Official Gazzette the joint Resolution of the National Ministry of Labor and of the National Ministry of Education Nbr. 825-338/2009 (the “Resolution”) that regulates Law 26,427 of Educational Internships.

The Resolution establishes the following:

• Companies willing to hire interns must be registered as employers before the Federal Administration of Public Income (Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos or AFIP) and must have at least one employee with an indefinite term contract.
  
  
• The company must provide the intern with a regime for leaves of absence for examinations, illness or accident at work equal or better than the one granted for the rest of the employees of the company and provided it is compatible with the non labor nature of the internship.
  
  
• Internship agreements may not be terminated based on illness, accident or maternity.
  
  
• The internship shall be suspended during the 45 days before and after birth. During such period the intern shall not be entitled to the amount corresponding to the non remunerative compensation. Once such suspension is ended, the intern shall have the right to return to her work.
  
  
• Inventions from interns shall have the same protection as the one granted for employees.
  
  
• In individual internship agreements the company shall declare under oath the applicable bargaining agreement to those employees performing similar works.
  
  
• The universities shall be the ones in charge of determining the criteria applicable for the internship applicant´s selection and according to Law 26,427.
  
  
• The internship shall have not more than 20 hours per week that can be freely agreed upon the parties provided they occur from Monday to Friday and during day journey unless specific exceptions depending on the type of activity. IN such case, express previous consent by the authority of application must be obtained. In any case, each diary journey shall not exceed 6: 30 hours.
  
  
• No internship shall be allowed for activities considered arduous, risky or unhealthy.
  
  
• The non remunerative compensation to be paid to the intern shall be calculated according to the basic salary of the applicable bargaining agreement and in proportion to the hours involved in the internship and to the category applicable to the duties rendered and including applicable extras. When the employees of the company are subject to variable remunerations, the calculation shall be proportional and shall be based on the average of the sums paid to the employees on the basis of the three immediate previous months to the payment of the non remunerative compensation. On the other hand, special non remunerative compensation more beneficial for the employees may be agreed for interns with a high degree of advance in their careers and for those interns with high qualifications.
  
  
• Interns shall be entitled to any and all usual benefits and leaves that may correspond according to the applicable bargaining agreement and/or of customary business practices, provided they are compatible with the non labor nature of the internship.
  
  
• The Ministry of Labor shall be the authority of application in charge of controlling the fulfillment of the regulations. In case of gross breach by the company the educational internship may fall and be considered as a indefinite labor relation. The following items shall be specially supervised: (a) the proper fulfillment of obligations, requisites and prohibitions provided under Law 26,4727 y its regulatory decrees; (b) that the activity of the internship is directly related with the specific need of formation provided in the agreement and with the specific level of training; (c) that the development of the intern´s activity is in accordance to the progressive acquisition of skills and abilities contained in the educational program previously stated; (d) that the internship agreement is not used by the company for the purposes of substituting permanent labor employments existing at the time of the internship or within 12 months before such internship; (e) that the internship agreement is not used for the purposes of covering leaves of absence of other company´s employees; (f) that the duties assigned to the interns do not exceed the one agreed in the agreement; (g) that the hours worked by the intern do not exceed the maximum hours provided by law or by regulations.
  
  
• There is maximum number of interns allowed per company depending on the number of employees of the company with indefinite agreement: (a) in companies with up to 200 employees, 1 intern for each 10 employees; (b) in companies of 201 or more employees, 7%. Handicapped or those employees hired under a special regime for handicapped individuals are excluded from the calculation.
  
  
• In all cases the company must have at least one tutor and with at least one tutor per each 10 interns, unless otherwise provided in the applicable collective bargaining agreement. The tutors must be located at the work place sector in which the internship takes place and during the hours of its occurrence.
  
  
• Only those internships with an original term of less than 12 months by the time of the enactment of Law 26,427 can be renewed or prorogated. In such case the internship may not last for more than 18 months and such renewal shall be settled in accordance to the terms of Law 26,427 and its regulations.
  
  
• Any and all internship agreement entered into as from November 2, 2009 shall be regulated by Law 26,427 and the Resolution.
  
  
• Any and all internship agreement entered into between the enactment of Law 26,427 and the date of entry into force of the Resolution shall be adapted to these regulations within a term of business 30 days.
  
  

ARGENTINA: NEW REGULATION OF EDUCATIONAL INTERNSHIPS

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