Hiring foreign employees in Peru: quotas, contracts and immigration status
Hiring foreign employees in Peru: the 20% headcount and 30% payroll limits, exemptions, the foreign-worker contract, its approval and the immigration status required to work.
Employment law for companies in Peru
Employment decisions in Peru deserve legal review before they are made.
Employment counsel for companies operating in Peru, or preparing to: hiring, contracts, working time, terminations, labor inspections and compliance, handled with the rigor your headquarters expects.
Employers only
We act exclusively for companies: management, finance and HR.
Documented advice
Every recommendation rests on the applicable rule and is put in writing.
English and Spanish
Memos your regional HQ and foreign counsel can use as they are.
Institutional backing
A practice affiliated with Lynch Contadores & Abogados.
What we solve
Where employment exposure starts in Peru
It rarely arrives all at once. It builds up in routine decisions made with a global template and without the Peruvian rules in view.
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Global templates that do not fit Peru
Offer letters and contracts drafted for at-will jurisdictions, in a country where indefinite employment is the default.
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Fixed-term contracts that no longer hold
Vague justifications or back-to-back renewals that turn a temporary hire into a permanent one.
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Terminations decided abroad
Restructurings approved at group level that skip the cause and procedure Peruvian law requires.
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Unrecorded overtime
Hours worked but not paid, or time records that do not match payroll.
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Inspections without a plan
Information requests from SUNAFIL answered late, partially or inconsistently.
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Liabilities surfacing in a deal
Leave indemnities, miscalculated benefits or outsourcing risk that erode value at closing.
Services
Local employment counsel, organized around the decision
Nineteen services in four areas. The method is the same throughout: understand the operation, review the paper trail and deliver advice you can act on.
Prevention
Response
Decisions
Before you decide
Every employment decision leaves a paper trail. And exposure.
We review each decision in four stages. Pick a type of decision to see what must be in writing, what can go wrong and what to do before you act.
Hiring
- Decision
What the business wants to do
Bring on staff for a project or a demand peak.
- Paper trail
What must exist in writing
A written contract stating the specific objective cause, the term, timely registration and evidence of the facts behind the temporary need.
- Exposure
What can go wrong
A vague cause or a term that outruns the justification lets the relationship be treated as indefinite employment.
- Action
What to do before acting
Match the contract type to the real business fact, draft the cause with verifiable detail and track expiries and renewals.
Working time
- Decision
What the business wants to do
Extend shifts, introduce a rotating roster or reorganize schedules.
- Paper trail
What must exist in writing
Reliable time records, overtime agreements, averaging calculations and a communicated schedule.
- Exposure
What can go wrong
Unpaid or unrecorded overtime, averages above the statutory maximum and missed rest periods.
- Action
What to do before acting
Model the schedule before rollout, reconcile time records with payroll and define who approves overtime.
Discipline
- Decision
What the business wants to do
Respond to a breach with a warning or suspension.
- Paper trail
What must exist in writing
Dated facts, evidence, the applicable internal rule, prior record and written notice to the employee.
- Exposure
What can go wrong
Disproportionate, unsupported or inconsistent sanctions undermine any later measure.
- Action
What to do before acting
Verify the facts, calibrate the measure, hear the employee where appropriate and keep a complete file.
Termination
- Decision
What the business wants to do
End an employment relationship for performance, conduct, restructuring or by agreement.
- Paper trail
What must exist in writing
Documented grounds, a notice of charges, a response period, a dismissal letter or mutual termination agreement, and final pay.
- Exposure
What can go wrong
A flawed process can lead to statutory severance or reinstatement, plus cost and management time.
- Action
What to do before acting
Choose the right route (dismissal, mutual termination, non-renewal), size the exposure and meet every deadline.
Outsourcing
- Decision
What the business wants to do
Hand a complete activity or service to a third-party provider.
- Paper trail
What must exist in writing
A services agreement, evidence of the provider’s autonomy and own resources, and employment compliance controls.
- Exposure
What can go wrong
If the provider’s staff take direct orders from the client company, the arrangement can be recharacterized.
- Action
What to do before acting
Define the scope, set coordination channels with the provider and audit its compliance periodically.
Inspection
- Decision
What the business wants to do
Respond to a SUNAFIL inspection order or information request.
- Paper trail
What must exist in writing
Payroll records, payslips, contracts, time records, health and safety files and proof of payment, organized and consistent.
- Exposure
What can go wrong
Missed deadlines, incomplete or contradictory information and conduct that may be treated as obstruction.
- Action
What to do before acting
Appoint an owner, review before submitting, remedy what can be remedied and document every step.
How we work
A clear method, built for management
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Understand the operation
We start with the business: structure, shifts, providers, timelines and who makes the call.
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Review the evidence
Contracts, time records, payroll and correspondence. What is not documented does not exist for the labor authority.
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Size the exposure
We translate risk into concrete scenarios your finance team and regional HQ can prioritize.
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See it through
We draft, review and stay with you until the decision is executed and filed.
Common exposure
Six reviews no Peruvian operation should postpone
Labor inspections
When SUNAFIL calls, the clock is already running.
SUNAFIL is Peru’s national labor inspection authority. Inspections are won or lost in preparation: what is produced, when, who attends and what is remedied before an infringement report is issued. We support companies from the inspection order through to the sanction procedure.
- Inspection order
- Requests and appearances
- Orders and remedies
- Infringement report
- Sanction procedure
Insights
Employment law insights for Peru
Practical analysis of the employment decisions that create the most exposure, with official sources and each Peruvian institution explained.
Unfair dismissal in Peru: statutory severance and reinstatement risk
Unfair dismissal in Peru can cost statutory severance of 1.5 monthly salaries per year, capped at 12, or reinstatement under constitutional case law. How to size the risk.
CTS in Peru: the severance deposit explained for employers
CTS in Peru explained for employers: the May and November deposits, the computable base, the employee’s bank account, the temporary withdrawal law and common errors.
Employment due diligence in Peruvian transactions
Labor due diligence in Peru for investors and deal counsel: scope, data room request list, typical red flags and how findings shape price, warranties and indemnities.
Free tool
Employment Compliance Check
Twelve questions, about three minutes and a review map showing which areas of your Peruvian operation deserve a closer look. No sign-up, with reading suggestions based on your answers.
Start the check- OvertimePriority review
- Fixed-term contractsWorth reviewing
- OutsourcingWorth reviewing
- Annual leaveNo initial flags
- Labor inspectionsNo initial flags
Institutional backing
A specialist practice affiliated with Lynch Contadores & Abogados.
Lynch Laboral focuses on employment law for companies. Its institutional affiliation with Lynch Contadores & Abogados, a Peruvian accounting and law firm, means we read each decision for its accounting, tax and financial impact too, and coordinate with Lynch Payroll when monthly payroll processing is part of the solution.
Lynch Payroll runs the monthly payroll. Lynch Laboral advises on the decisions behind it.
About our approachFrequently asked questions
Do you advise employees?
No. Lynch Laboral acts exclusively for companies and employers. Our job is to make sure your employment decisions in Peru are lawful, proportionate and properly documented.
Can you support a company that has not yet hired anyone in Peru?
Yes. We help companies set up employment in Peru from the start: contract models, payroll coordination, mandatory registrations and internal policies, so the first hires are made on a sound basis.
Do you report in English to our headquarters?
Yes. We prepare memos and reports in English and Spanish, written for regional management, in-house legal and finance teams, and foreign law firms.
Can you step in during an ongoing SUNAFIL inspection?
Yes. Deadlines run during an inspection, so the order, the requests received and the information already produced should be reviewed right away.
Do you work alongside our global law firm?
Yes. We can act as local employment counsel alongside lead counsel abroad, covering the Peruvian employment law aspects while the lead firm coordinates the wider matter.
Review the decision before you make it.
Tell us what your company is weighing up in Peru. We will tell you what to review, in which order and with which documents.