When a regional CFO asks “what is our exposure if SUNAFIL finds this?”, the honest answer is a calculation, not a guess. Peruvian labor fines follow a published table with a small number of variables, legal caps and specific rules for reductions and aggravation. Understanding that structure lets a finance or legal team size a risk, decide whether to remediate before an inspection closes, and provision sensibly. This note explains the mechanics, using figures for 2026. All amounts in soles are derived from the UIT and will change when the UIT changes.
The unit of measure: the UIT
Fines are not set in soles but in UIT (Unidad Impositiva Tributaria), a tax reference unit fixed each year by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and used throughout Peruvian law. For 2026, the UIT is S/ 5,500 (Supreme Decree 301-2025-EF), up from S/ 5,350 in 2025. The UIT applied is the one in force in the year the infringement is verified, so every SUNAFIL fine rose in soles at the start of 2026 without any change to the rules.
The legal framework
Three texts do the work:
- Law 28806, the General Labor Inspection Law, sets the criteria for grading fines (article 38 and following), the legal caps and the rules on repeat offences and fine reductions.
- Supreme Decree 019-2006-TR, its implementing regulation, classifies each infringement as minor, serious or very serious, and contains the fine table in article 48.
- Supreme Decree 008-2020-TR replaced the fine table in article 48.1. It remains the current table as far as we have been able to verify; the regulation contemplates periodic revision, so the official text should be checked before relying on specific figures.
Fines are graded by the severity of the infringement, the number of affected employees and the type of company, applying reasonableness and proportionality.
Legal note
Law 28806 caps each fine at 50 UIT for a minor infringement, 100 UIT for a serious one and 200 UIT for a very serious one. The fine for all infringements detected together may not exceed 300 UIT. The references online to a “200 UIT annual cap” are not consistent with the legal text.
Severity: minor, serious and very serious
The regulation lists infringements by subject, including labor relations, health and safety, and infringements against the inspection itself. Broadly, minor infringements tend to be formal or documentary; serious ones affect substantive rights such as benefits or working conditions; and very serious ones involve fundamental rights, serious health and safety breaches, failure to register employees in payroll, or conduct that defeats the inspection. Examples from the regulation: failing to register an employee in the electronic payroll on time is very serious (one infringement per employee); failing to deposit CTS, the statutory severance fund, is serious; and failing to comply with a compliance order issued by an inspector is very serious.
The fine table: representative values for 2026
The table has three sections (micro businesses, small businesses and all other employers). Within each, the fine rises with severity and with brackets of affected employees. The following rows are representative:
| Company type | Severity and affected employees | Fine (UIT) | 2026 equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other employers | Minor, 1–10 affected | 0.26 | S/ 1,430 |
| Other employers | Serious, 1–10 affected | 1.57 | S/ 8,635 |
| Other employers | Very serious, 1–10 affected | 2.63 | S/ 14,465 |
| Other employers | Very serious, 1,000 or more affected | 52.53 | S/ 288,915 |
| Small business | Very serious, 100 or more affected | 7.65 | S/ 42,075 |
| Micro business | Very serious, 10 or more affected | 0.68 | S/ 3,740 |
Most subsidiaries of foreign groups fall into the “other employers” section, whose top bracket applies from 1,000 affected employees. For intermediate brackets, the official table should be consulted directly; the amounts rise steeply as the number of affected employees grows.
Counting: per infringement, per employee, or per company
How the fine is counted often matters more than the headline amount.
- Affected employees. As a rule, the bracket is set by the number of employees affected by the specific infringement, not by the company’s total headcount. An overtime problem affecting 40 people is priced on 40.
- Per-employee infringements. Some infringements are counted individually. Failure to register employees in payroll on time is one infringement per unregistered employee.
- Total workforce. Article 48.1-C of the regulation provides that certain infringements are calculated on the company’s entire workforce, including some health and safety infringements resulting in death or permanent disability and some infringements against the inspection. This is where exposure can escalate quickly for large employers.
- Overlapping infringements. When a substantive infringement necessarily entails formal ones, only the substantive infringement is sanctioned (article 48-A).
Micro and small businesses
Law 28806 reduces fines for micro and small businesses by 50%, and the specific tables in the regulation already include that reduction. Two conditions matter. First, the employer must prove registration in REMYPE (the national registry of micro and small businesses kept by the Ministry of Labor), filing the certificate before the second-instance decision. Second, for registered businesses, the fines in a single procedure may not exceed 1% of net income for the fiscal year before the inspection order, subject to exceptions set in the regulation.
Size is determined by annual sales (micro up to 150 UIT; small above 150 and up to 1,700 UIT). A newly established subsidiary of a large group may technically fall within these thresholds in its first years, but whether it can use the special regime depends on the eligibility rules and on registration, which should be analyzed case by case.
Factors that increase the fine
Repeat offences. Where an employer repeats an infringement of the same type and classification that has already been sanctioned, the fine may be increased by up to 100%, without exceeding the legal caps (article 40 of Law 28806).
Temporary closure. In certain cases, particularly in health and safety matters, the law provides for the temporary closure of the unit as a sanction, for up to 30 calendar days, reducible to 15 where the employer proves measures exceeding legal requirements. Obstructing the investigation of a fatal accident can be sanctioned with both a fine and closure.
Watch out
Inspection-related infringements, such as failing to attend a summons or to comply with a compliance order, are separate from the underlying breach and, for some, the calculation is based on the company’s total workforce. Ignoring the process can cost more than the original problem; see our note on ignoring a SUNAFIL request.
Factors that reduce the fine
The law rewards correction. In summary: curing the breach before the infringement report is issued brings a 90% reduction of the proposed fine for the cured infringements; curing after the report and before the deadline to appeal reduces the fine to 30% of its amount; and curing within ten business days after the appeal is decided reduces it to 50%. These benefits apply only to infringements that can be cured and have conditions of their own, explained in our note on curing labor infringements. Beware of percentage schemes circulating online that do not match the legal text.
Illustrative scenario
Illustrative scenario: a Peruvian subsidiary of an Asian electronics distributor, with 320 employees, is inspected following a complaint. The inspector identifies two issues: four new hires were registered in payroll several days after they started work, and a group of eight employees did not receive the full July bonus.
A simplified reading of the table for “other employers” suggests the following starting points. The payroll registration issue is very serious and counted per employee, so four infringements, each priced at the 1–10 bracket (2.63 UIT, S/ 14,465 in 2026). The bonus shortfall is serious, affecting eight employees (1.57 UIT, S/ 8,635). The total, before any reduction, is well within the 300 UIT overall cap. If the company pays the bonus difference and completes registrations before the infringement report, and does not contest those points, the proposed fines for the cured items are reduced by 90%. If the company had already been sanctioned for late registrations, the fine could instead be increased by up to 100%.
The actual calculation in any given case depends on the classification applied by the inspector, the affected employees and the procedural stage, and should be confirmed by counsel.
Using the calculation in planning
For finance teams, the fine table is only part of the exposure. The underlying payments (unpaid overtime, bonuses, benefits) are owed regardless of the fine, and employees may also pursue claims in court. A realistic provision combines the unpaid amounts, the likely fine range with and without cure, and legal costs. Our note on identifying and sizing employment liabilities explains how to build that view, and the stages of a labor inspection show when each reduction is still available.
Key takeaways
SUNAFIL fines are predictable once the variables are known: severity, affected employees and company type, expressed in UIT and bounded by caps of 50, 100 and 200 UIT per infringement and 300 UIT overall. Exposure grows through per-employee counting, total-workforce calculation for certain infringements and repeat offences; it shrinks through early, documented cure. For a system-wide view, see our guide to labor inspections in Peru, and for support during an active matter, our labor inspection defense service.