Havana/The new Labor Code, published this friday in the Official Gazette and which will come into force on September 25, eliminates the terms “available workers” or “interrupts” –euphemisms used for decades for those who lost their position as a result of a reorganization–, and replaces it with a more technical and longer formula: “cessation of the employment relationship for economic, technological and structural reasons.”
The change does not mean that before jobs could not have been lost for these reasons. The old availability regime already contemplated the amortization of positions, relocation and, finally, the termination of the employment relationship. The novelty is in the formulation, the new economic guarantees and the obligation of state and private employers to establish mechanisms to protect the income of those affected.
Law 189/2026 first provides for measures aimed at avoiding dismissal. If the entity’s difficulties are temporary, new hiring may be restricted, workers may be sent to requalification courses, or a provisional reduction in working hours may be agreed upon. In the latter case, the employee is paid only for the time actually worked. The measure must be agreed upon with the worker and adopted in common agreement with the union organization.
Except for budgeted institutions, all must protect the income of their workers in the event of work interruptions
When the reorganization definitively affects a position and it is not possible to find another location, the employment relationship may be terminated. If the worker does not find employment through his own means, he has the right to a guarantee equivalent to six basic salaries for the position he held. The amount must be paid in one lump sum, within 30 days of notification of the employer’s decision.
Protection is drastically reduced if you reject a relocation proposal without justification. In that case, you only receive the equivalent of one month’s basic salary.
The new Code regulates the conditions under which an entity can reduce its workforce, but does not incorporate the right to strike. Although it includes principles related to freedom of association, workers still do not have express recognition of this instrument of collective pressure against the employer.
The legislation also introduces an obligation that fully covers MSMEs and other private employers. Except for budgeted institutions, all must protect the income of their workers against work interruptions, layoffs for economic reasons, extinction of MSMEs or cooperatives and other situations that paralyze activity.
The private sector also appears in another of the important transformations of the legislation: the social service of recent graduates.
To do this, they can take out an insurance policy or use other legally provided mechanisms. The rule allows up to 90 days from its entry into force to establish this coverage, although workers affected by a work stoppage during that period retain the right to the salary protection provided for by the Code.
The private sector also appears in another of the important transformations of the legislation: the social service of recent graduates. When there is no possibility of placement in a state entity, the municipal Labor directorates may conclude agreements with companies and other private entities so that young people fulfill that obligation there.
The assigned position must correspond to the training received and the needs of production or services. If the graduate destined for the private sector considers that the position does not correspond to his studies, he can complain to the courts. Incorporation, however, is not voluntary. If you do not appear, reject the assignment or interrupt social service without a cause considered justified, you may be disqualified from practicing professionally.
When the young person has been placed in the private sector, his or her employer can file a request for disqualification with the institution that approved that entity as an economic actor. The file then reaches the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, whose Legal Directorate decides. Administrative appeals and subsequently judicial remedies are available against this resolution.
An inspector may order the temporary closure of an establishment for a period of up to 180 calendar days as a precautionary measure.
The legislative package also strengthens the tools of the Labor Inspection. Decree 179/2026 establishes a new regime of contraventions applicable to employers in any sector and allows fines to be imposed, equipment to be paralyzed and the total or partial closure of establishments to be ordered.
Even before the sanctioning procedure is concluded, an inspector may order as a precautionary measure the temporary closure of an establishment for a period of up to 180 calendar days, when the conditions provided for by the standard are met. During that time, all activity in the closed premises is prohibited. The measure can be lifted once the causes and effects of the unsafe conditions that motivated it have been eliminated. If irregularities persist, the sanction may end in a permanent closure.
The new framework also affects MSMEs when they disappear. Before extinguishing a micro, small or medium-sized company, the labor and salary treatment provided for these processes must be applied to its workers, so that the disappearance of the business does not automatically eliminate obligations with the workforce.
Law 189 replaces the Labor Code approved in 2013 and was approved by the National Assembly on July 30. Its seventh transitional provision makes the change in language clear: all legal references to “available workers” must now be understood as being made to those who suffer a “cessation of the employment relationship for economic, technological and structural reasons.”
