Documents SUNAFIL can request, and how to keep them ready

A labor inspection in Peru is, above all, an exercise in documentary proof. The inspector will form a view from what the company can show, how quickly it can show it, and whether the pieces fit together. For a subsidiary whose payroll runs through a shared-services center, whose HR policies are drafted in English, and whose contracts are approved by a regional legal team, the question is less “do we have the documents?” than “can the Lima team put them on the table, in Spanish, within a few business days?” This note sets out what SUNAFIL typically asks for and how to organize records so that an inspection does not turn into a scramble.

The legal basis for document requests

SUNAFIL, Peru’s national labor inspection authority, acts through inspectors whose powers are defined in article 5 of Law 28806, the General Labor Inspection Law. They include requiring the employer to produce books, records, documents and any other information relevant to the inspection, either on the spot during a visit or at a later date, including in a comparecencia, a summons to appear with documents at SUNAFIL’s offices or virtually.

Two consequences follow. First, the scope of what can be requested is broad: anything that helps verify compliance with labor, social security or health and safety rules. Second, failure to produce what was requested is not a neutral outcome. Hindering the inspection is an infringement in its own right under article 36 of Law 28806, and the implementing regulation, Supreme Decree 019-2006-TR, classifies infringements against the inspection separately from substantive breaches. Our note on what to do when SUNAFIL inspects your company explains how to manage requests on the day.

The core file: what inspectors ask for most

Registration and payroll

Peru’s electronic payroll (planilla electrónica) has two components: the T-Registro, which records each employee’s employment data, and the PLAME, the monthly payroll filing submitted through SUNAT, the tax authority. Employees must be registered in T-Registro no later than the day they start work. Failing to register an employee on time is classified as a very serious infringement, counted per employee, so this is usually the first thing an inspector checks.

Payslips (boletas de pago) must be delivered no later than the third business day after the payment date. They can be delivered electronically with a digital or electronic signature, which suits international payroll platforms, provided each employee’s receipt can be traced.

Contracts

Indefinite-term contracts may be verbal or written, but in practice a written contract is the employer’s first line of evidence. Fixed-term contracts (contratos sujetos a modalidad) must be in writing, state their term and the objective cause justifying the temporary hire, and be submitted to the labor administrative authority within fifteen calendar days of signature. Part-time contracts (under four hours a day on average) must also be written and registered within the same period. Inspectors often compare the stated cause of a fixed-term contract with the work actually performed.

Working time

Employers must keep a permanent attendance record (registro de control de asistencia) showing each employee’s start and end times, including overtime. It may be physical or digital, and employees must have access to their own data. Senior management, staff not subject to immediate supervision and those providing intermittent services are excluded. Overtime authorizations, schedules and any compensatory rest agreements complete the file. Complaints about unpaid overtime are among the most common triggers of inspections, and the attendance record is the decisive document.

Statutory benefits

Inspectors typically request proof of CTS deposits (a severance fund the employer deposits in May and November into a bank account chosen by the employee), together with the settlement statement delivered to each employee; payment records for the two gratificaciones (statutory bonuses paid in July and December); and vacation records showing entitlement, scheduling and actual leave taken. If the company is required to distribute profit-sharing, related records may also be reviewed.

Health and safety

Occupational health and safety is often the most document-heavy area. Depending on size, the inspector may request the risk assessment matrix (IPERC), the internal health and safety regulation (mandatory from 20 employees), minutes of the safety committee or evidence of the safety supervisor, records of at least four training sessions a year, occupational medical exam records, and the mandatory registers listed in article 33 of Supreme Decree 005-2012-TR, such as accident and incident records. For activities classified as high-risk, proof of SCTR (supplementary occupational-risk insurance) is also expected, and every employer should be able to show its Seguro Vida Ley life insurance coverage, which applies from the start of employment.

Other frequent requests

Depending on the scope, requests may extend to the internal work rules (mandatory above 100 employees), the sexual harassment prevention policy and committee records, the job evaluation and pay policy required by the equal pay law, outsourcing or staffing agreements, and, for expatriates, approved foreign-employee contracts. Our note on how an employment audit works explains how to test these areas before an inspector does.

Records held abroad, in English, or by a provider

International structures create three recurring problems.

Location. Timekeeping platforms, HRIS systems and payroll engines are often regional. The Peruvian employer remains responsible for producing records wherever they are stored. Service agreements with shared-services centers or external payroll processors should include an obligation to deliver specified records to the Peruvian entity within a short, fixed period on request, and a named contact for urgent requests.

Language. Peruvian authorities work in Spanish. Global policies (code of conduct, bonus plans, remote work guidelines) that exist only in English are weak evidence. Core documents should exist in Spanish, and payslips and contracts should always be in Spanish.

Data protection. Transferring employee data between the Peruvian entity and group companies abroad raises personal data protection questions under Peruvian law. These should be solved in advance through intra-group arrangements, not while an inspection deadline is running.

Retention: how long to keep records

The health and safety regulation sets specific retention periods: ten years for records of occupational accidents, twenty years for occupational illness records, and five years for other safety management records. For payroll, contracts and benefits, companies should retain records well beyond termination, because they will be needed to defend any later claim. A clear retention schedule, approved locally and aligned with group policy, avoids the common situation where a global system purges data that Peruvian rules still require.

Illustrative scenario

Illustrative scenario: a Canadian mining services company operates in Peru through a branch with 90 employees, most on rotating schedules at a remote site. Payroll is processed by an external provider in Lima, while timekeeping is captured by a global workforce-management platform administered from Toronto. An inspector requests attendance records for the last six months and proof of overtime payment. The provider has the payroll data but not the raw attendance logs, and the platform exports data only in English with UTC timestamps.

A company that had prepared would already have a monthly Spanish-language attendance report per employee, reconciled with payroll by the provider and signed off locally. Instead, the branch spends the deadline converting timestamps and reconciling hours, and delivers a partial file. The inspector notes that overtime appears in the platform but not in payroll, which becomes the core finding. The underlying problem existed before the inspection; the lack of a ready file made it visible under the worst possible conditions.

Checklist: an inspection-ready document file

• One digital folder per employee: contract, T-Registro record, payslips, vacation and benefits records.
• Monthly reconciliation of attendance, overtime and payroll, reviewed in Peru.
• A register of fixed-term and part-time contracts with proof of submission to the labor authority.
• CTS deposit evidence and settlement statements for each May and November cycle.
• Bonus payment evidence for July and December.
• Health and safety file: risk assessment, committee or supervisor records, training evidence, medical exams and mandatory registers.
• Spanish versions of key policies, and Spanish payslips and contracts.
• Provider agreements requiring prompt delivery of records, with named contacts.
• A retention schedule consistent with Peruvian requirements.

An annual review of this file fits naturally into a compliance calendar; our employment compliance calendar for Peru sets out the recurring dates.

Practical takeaways

SUNAFIL’s document requests are predictable in substance and unforgiving in timing. Companies that keep an organized, reconciled and Spanish-language file per employee and per obligation can answer most requests within days and focus their energy on the few issues that genuinely need legal analysis. When a summons to appear arrives, our guide on preparing for a SUNAFIL appearance explains how to present the file. For the broader system, see our guide to labor inspections in Peru, and for support during an active matter, our labor inspection defense service.