On July 23rd, Law No. 21,828 was published in the Official Gazette, introducing a new transparency framework into the Chilean Labor Code aimed at promoting women’s inclusion in the workplace through reporting obligations regarding female representation and participation within certain companies. The regulation does not establish hiring quotas or mandatory targets for female participation but, instead it introduces reporting and disclosure requirements aimed at improving the availability of data, highlighting existing gaps, and facilitating the design of relevant public policies.
Covered companies
The law establishes two categories of companies required to prepare an annual report on the state of gender equity within their organization:
a) Companies with 200 or more employees, regardless of their economic activity.
b) Companies with 50 or more employees operating in any of the following sectors: mining, research and development, financial services, energy, transportation, and construction.
The inclusion of these sectors reflects concerns regarding industries where female participation has historically been lower. During the legislative process, emphasis was repeatedly placed on the need for greater information regarding traditionally male-dominated sectors, particularly mining and energy.
The law does not expressly regulate how employees should be counted when activities are carried out through business groups, holdings, or complex corporate structures. Likewise, the legislative history reviewed contains no references to concepts such as “business groups”, “related companies”, or “economic unit”. Therefore, until the Labor Directorate issues a resolution or opinion establishing otherwise, employee headcount should be determined individually by Tax Identification Number (RUT, for its initials in Spanish).
The law also identifies the sectors subject to the 50-employee threshold but does not establish criteria for determining when a company is considered to belong to one of them. Such determination will be pending until a resolution is reached during the term of this law. In this regard, the law does not refer to ISIC codes (CIIU, for its initials in Spanish), business activities registered before the Internal Revenue Service (SII, for its initials in Spanish), primary economic activities, or corporate purpose clauses, an issue that may be particularly relevant for companies engaged in multiple business activities.
Content of the report
The report must include, at a minimum, the following information:
- Female participation: Companies must report the percentage of women within the organization.
- Representation in positions of responsibility: Indicators relating to women’s participation in such positions must be included.
- Conciliation measures: Companies must report measures implemented to promote work-life balance and the reconciliation of work, family, and personal responsibilities.
- Gender salary gap: The report must include information relating to salary gaps.
- Other gender equity measures: Companies must disclose additional initiatives adopted to promote gender equity. This requirement was incorporated during the legislative process as part of amendments approved by the Chamber of Deputies.
It is important to note that these requirements constitute only the minimum legal standard. The law expressly provides that the report must comply with parameters to be established by a future resolution of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, to be issued following a report by the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity. Such resolution has not yet been issued.
Pending regulation
At an early stage, the bill contemplated using the reporting parameters contained in regulations issued by the Financial Market Commission (CMF, for its initials in Spanish), particularly those established under General Rule No. 461.
During the legislative process, the initial reference to the CMF framework was replaced by a requirement to comply with a future resolution of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, issued after consultation with the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity.
Deadlines and compliance
The report must be prepared and submitted electronically to the Labor Directorate during March of each year, which must then forward the information, within the first five business days of April, to the Interministerial Committee for Equal Rights and Gender Equity and to the Superior Labor Council.
The published text of Law No. 21,828 does not include transitional provisions or establish a special deadline for the submission of the first report. Consequently, the first mandatory report will be due in March 2027.
Disclosure of information
In addition to submitting the report to the Labor Directorate, companies subject to this requirement must keep the report publicly available on their respective websites.
Supervision and sanctions
Law No. 21,828 does not establish a specific penalty regime for non-compliance with these obligations. Therefore, the default penalty regime applies: Article 506 of the Chilean Labor Code.
Next steps for companies
Since the law already specifies the information that must be included in the report, companies that may be subject to the requirement can begin preparing the information immediately, while monitoring the future resolution of the Ministry of Labor, which will define the technical details for compliance.
Among other matters, it would be advisable to identify workforce composition by gender; female representation in positions of responsibility; policies and measures of conciliation; information relating to gender pay gaps; and any other gender equity initiatives implemented within the organization.
For questions or further information regarding this matter, please contact our Corporate Legal team.