Labor inspections in Peru: a SUNAFIL guide for employers

For a company operating in Peru, a labor inspection is not an exceptional event. It is the main way the State checks whether employers comply with employment law, and it can be triggered by a single employee complaint, a planned campaign or an inspector’s own initiative. How the company handles the first hours and days of an inspection often determines the outcome more than the underlying facts.

This guide explains how the inspection system works as a whole: the authority, the legal framework, the two stages of the process, how fines are calculated, how they can be reduced, and what management should organize in advance. Each topic links to a more detailed briefing.

Executive overview

• SUNAFIL (Superintendencia Nacional de Fiscalización Laboral) is Peru’s national labor inspection authority, a specialized agency attached to the MTPE (Ministerio de Trabajo y Promoción del Empleo, the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion).
• An inspection has two stages: the inspection itself, in which the inspector investigates and may order corrections, and — if infringements are recorded — a sanction procedure, which is separate and has its own deadlines and appeals.
• Inspectors have broad powers: entry without notice, document requests, interviews and summonses. Obstructing them is an infringement in its own right.
• Fines are calculated in UIT (Unidad Impositiva Tributaria, the tax reference unit, S/ 5,500 in 2026) and scale with severity, company size and the number of affected workers.
• Curing infringements early produces substantial, legally defined reductions.

Legal framework

The system rests on a small number of texts:

• Law 28806, the General Labor Inspection Law (2006), defines the inspection system, the inspectors’ powers, the types of infringement, the fine caps, and the rules for reductions and appeals.
• Supreme Decree 019-2006-TR, its regulations, classifies each infringement as minor, serious or very serious and contains the fine table. Its current table was set by Supreme Decree 008-2020-TR; no later table was identified at the date of this guide, and it should be checked against the official text before relying on a specific figure.
• Law 29981 (2013) created SUNAFIL and amended Law 28806, including the fine caps.
• The General Administrative Procedure Law (consolidated text, Supreme Decree 004-2019-JUS) applies to the sanction procedure, including its expiry period.
• A supreme decree regulates SUNAFIL’s electronic mailbox (casilla electrónica), the mandatory channel for notifications to employers.

The principles of inspection include the primacy of reality: inspectors look at how work is actually performed, not only at what contracts and policies say. An “independent contractor” working full time under supervision will be treated as an employee.

How an inspection starts

Under Law 28806, inspection actions may originate in:

1. an order from a higher authority within the inspection system;
2. a request from another public body or a court;
3. a complaint (denuncia) by an employee, a former employee, a union or a third party;
4. an internal decision of the inspection system, including planned campaigns;
5. the inspector’s own initiative; or
6. a request from employers or employees for advisory actions.

Before full investigation, SUNAFIL may use preliminary mechanisms — a compliance management module and administrative conciliation — which the law treats as prior actions. The law also distinguishes advisory actions, which guide employers without sanctions, from investigation actions, which verify compliance and can lead to fines.

For the employer, the first sign of an inspection may be an inspector at the door, a notice in the electronic mailbox or a summons to appear. Our briefing on what to do when SUNAFIL inspects your company sets out the immediate response.

The inspector’s powers

Inspectors can enter workplaces without prior notice; require the production of books, records and documents; interview the employer, its representatives and employees, individually or together; take samples; and require the employer to appear before them. Inspections can take the form of a visit, a summons to appear (comparecencia) — in person or virtually, with specified documents — or a verification of data against records.

The flip side is that the law defines infringements against the inspection function: refusing or impeding the inspection, directly or indirectly; abandoning a diligence; and failing to attend a duly notified summons. Failing to comply with a formal compliance order is a very serious infringement of this type. Obstructing the investigation of a fatal accident is punished with a fine and temporary closure.

Our guide to preparing for a SUNAFIL appearance summons explains who should attend, with what authority and with which documents.

The inspection cycle, step by step

The following sequence describes a typical investigation that ends in a sanction procedure. Not every inspection goes through every step.

1. Inspection order. SUNAFIL issues an order identifying the employer, the inspector and the subjects to be checked (for example, payroll registration, benefits or health and safety).
2. Investigation actions. The inspector visits, summons the employer or checks data. As a general rule, investigation actions may not last more than 30 business days, unless the delay is attributable to the employer; extensions are possible, except in occupational health and safety matters.
3. Document requests. The inspector requires documents with a deadline. Missing or late documents are both evidentiary and procedural problems.
4. Inspection measures. If the inspector detects non-compliance, he or she may issue a warning, a compliance order (medida de requerimiento) with a deadline to cure, or, in cases of serious and imminent risk, order the stoppage or prohibition of work. After a fatal accident, the inspector may order the temporary closure of the area or unit; wages continue to be paid and leave cannot be granted during the closure.
5. Infringement report. If the compliance order expires without the infringement being cured, the inspector issues an infringement report (acta de infracción) with a proposed fine. Its recorded facts are presumed true unless disproved.
6. Charges. The sanction procedure starts, always ex officio, with notice of the charges (imputación de cargos). The employer has five business days to respond.
7. Final investigation report. The investigating body issues a final report, which is notified to the employer with a further opportunity to respond.
8. First-instance decision. The sanctioning body imposes or dismisses the fine.
9. Appeal. The employer may appeal to SUNAFIL’s second instance within the general administrative appeal period.
10. Review. An exceptional review appeal (recurso de revisión) may be filed before the TFL (Tribunal de Fiscalización Laboral, SUNAFIL’s administrative appeals tribunal), whose decision exhausts the administrative route.

The sanction procedure expires if not resolved within nine months from the notice of charges, extendable by up to three months. The detailed chronology is in stages of a labor inspection in Peru, from order to sanction.

Documents: what inspectors ask for

The subject matter of the inspection order determines the request, but the core set is predictable: evidence of registration in the electronic payroll (T-Registro) and monthly payroll filings (PLAME); employment contracts, including fixed-term contracts and their filing with the labor authority; payslips; attendance and overtime records; evidence of benefit payments and deposits — gratificaciones, CTS, leave; social security and Vida Ley life insurance; and health and safety records such as risk assessments, training records, medical examinations and the committee’s or supervisor’s minutes.

Documents are best kept organized by employee and by obligation, accessible locally, and produced in an orderly, indexed file. Our briefing on documents SUNAFIL can request, and how to keep them ready contains a practical inventory.

How fines are calculated

Classification and caps

Every infringement is classified as minor, serious or very serious. The fine is then set by the table in the regulations according to three factors: severity, type of company (micro, small, or other) and number of affected workers. The law caps fines at 50 UIT (minor), 100 UIT (serious) and 200 UIT (very serious) per infringement, and the total for all infringements detected cannot exceed 300 UIT. Claims that SUNAFIL fines are capped at “200 UIT a year” are wrong.

The 2026 amounts

With the UIT at S/ 5,500 for 2026, the table produces the following amounts for the first bracket of affected workers:

The MYPE brackets already incorporate the 50% reduction for micro and small enterprises, which requires proof of registration in REMYPE (the MTPE’s registry of micro and small enterprises) before the second-instance decision. For registered MYPEs, fines in a single procedure are also capped at 1% of the previous year’s net income, with exceptions.

Aggravating factors

Certain infringements — some health and safety infringements involving death or permanent disability, and some infringements against the inspection function — are calculated on the total workforce, not only on the workers affected. Repeat infringements of the same type already sanctioned can increase the fine by up to 100%, within the caps. When a substantive infringement necessarily includes formal ones, only the substantive infringement is fined.

Temporary closure may also be imposed as a sanction for up to 30 calendar days, reducible to 15 where the employer demonstrates health and safety measures beyond the legal minimum. A detailed walkthrough is in how labor fines are calculated in Peru.

Curing infringements and reducing fines

The law rewards correction — but only for curable infringements, where the effects on workers can be reversed. There are three windows:

The 90% reduction is lost if the employer later contests the report or appeals the fine for those same infringements. The request is decided by the first-instance authority. Percentage schemes circulating online — with extra discounts for early payment — do not match the verified text of the law and should be disregarded.

This makes the cure decision strategic: if the facts are clear, curing fast is usually the most efficient route; if the facts or the legal qualification are genuinely disputable, the company must weigh the defense against the loss of the reduction. See curing labor infringements in Peru to reduce fines.

Deadlines and silence: the cost of not answering

The most avoidable exposure in any inspection is procedural. A compliance order that expires without response leads to an infringement report; failing to comply with it is a very serious infringement against the inspection function; failing to attend a summons is itself sanctioned. Because notices are served through the electronic mailbox, a mailbox that nobody checks is equivalent to a missed deadline. Our briefing on what happens if a company ignores a SUNAFIL request explains the consequences in detail.

Special situations that raise the stakes

Health and safety inspections and workplace accidents

Occupational health and safety inspections under Law 29783 follow the same procedure but with sharper edges. The general 30-business-day limit on investigation can be extended in other matters, but not in health and safety — these inspections are expected to move quickly. Serious and imminent risks may justify an immediate stoppage order. Fatal accidents and dangerous incidents must be notified to the MTPE within 24 hours, and after a fatal accident the inspector may order the temporary closure of the area or unit for the maximum duration of the investigation. Where a resolution determines that a fatal accident resulted from health and safety breaches, SUNAFIL must inform the Public Prosecutor’s Office within five business days, and Peruvian criminal law separately punishes deliberate breaches of safety rules that endanger workers after the employer has been notified by the authority.

For these inspections, the evidence that matters is technical: the risk assessment (IPERC), training records, occupational medical examinations, protective equipment delivery, and the minutes of the safety committee or supervisor. Contractors’ compliance also matters, because failing to verify that contractors and staffing providers comply with health and safety rules is a serious infringement for the principal company.

Complaints from current employees

Many inspections begin with a complaint. The employer is rarely told who filed it, and should not try to find out. Peruvian law treats a dismissal motivated by an employee’s complaint or participation in proceedings against the employer before the competent authorities as null, which leads to reinstatement with back pay, unless the employee has committed serious misconduct. Any disciplinary action affecting a likely complainant during or after an inspection should be reviewed carefully before it is taken.

Publicity of results

The results of inspections are public, and SUNAFIL may publish them. For listed companies, groups with public procurement exposure or brands sensitive to reputation, an inspection outcome is therefore not only a financial matter; it should be reported internally with that in mind.

What management should do

Inspection readiness is a governance topic, not only an HR task. As a professional recommendation, we suggest that management:

• Designates owners: who monitors the electronic mailbox daily, who receives inspectors, who has powers of attorney to represent the company, and who decides on curing or contesting.
• Keeps a reception protocol: how to receive an inspector courteously, verify credentials and the inspection order, notify legal counsel, and accompany the inspector without obstructing.
• Maintains a document file by obligation and by employee, accessible in Peru.
• Runs internal checks on the obligations most often inspected — payroll registration, benefits, working time, health and safety, contractor management — and fixes gaps before an inspection does.
• Reports exposure to the board or regional headquarters with an estimate of potential fines, so that remediation is funded.

For foreign groups, regional headquarters should make sure the Peruvian entity has a local representative with adequate authority and that global systems can produce Peruvian records quickly.

Frequent mistakes during inspections

• Refusing or delaying the inspector’s entry while “waiting for the manager”.
• Sending someone to a summons without a power of attorney or without the requested documents.
• Producing documents that contradict each other, or creating documents after the fact.
• Letting employees be interviewed without understanding the scope of the inspection, or trying to influence their answers.
• Ignoring the electronic mailbox.
• Contesting infringements that could have been cured with a 90% reduction.
• Curing only on paper, without reversing the effect on workers.

Our briefing on common employer mistakes during a labor inspection develops each of these points.

The cluster at a glance: where to go next

This guide is the frame; each briefing goes deeper into one moment of the cycle. If an inspector is at your door, start with what to do when SUNAFIL inspects your company, then map the process with the stages of a labor inspection. For the evidence, use documents SUNAFIL can request; for summonses, preparing for a SUNAFIL appearance. If a deadline has already been missed, read ignoring a SUNAFIL request. To size the exposure, see how labor fines are calculated, and to reduce it, curing labor infringements. Before, during and after, check common mistakes during a labor inspection.

When you need direct support, our labor inspection defense team handles inspections and sanction procedures, and an employment audit identifies gaps before SUNAFIL does. For a first view of your position, use the employment compliance check. Foreign companies setting up in Peru will find the broader context in our guide to employing in Peru.

Key takeaways

A SUNAFIL inspection is a regulated procedure with predictable stages, defined powers and legally fixed reductions. Companies that respond on time, produce coherent evidence and make an informed decision on curing usually limit their exposure; those that delay, improvise or ignore notices convert manageable issues into sanctions calculated per worker. The work that matters most happens before the inspector arrives.