Hiring Employees in Argentina: The 2026 Legal Framework

Argentina rewrote its employment statute twice in twenty months. The Bases Act of 2024 made the first set of changes; the Labour Modernisation Act, in force since 6 March 2026, made a deeper set. For a foreign employer the practical consequence is that most English-language guidance on Argentine employment written before 2026 is describing a system that no longer exists.

This note sets out the framework as it stands for a company hiring its first Argentine employees.

The relationship is defined by facts, not by documents

Argentine employment law attaches to the substance of the relationship. That principle has not changed. What has changed is how the presumption operates.

Under the reformed Article 23 of the Employment Contract Act, the provision of services in a situation of dependency gives rise to a presumption of an employment contract. The reform added an express carve-out: the presumption does not apply where there are contracts for works, professional or trade services, or any other arrangement involving services outside a relationship of dependency, and the corresponding invoices or receipts are issued or payment is made through banking systems. That absence of presumption extends to all effects, including social security.

This is a significant strengthening of the employer’s position, and it should be read precisely rather than optimistically. It removes an automatic presumption. It does not convert a dependent relationship into an independent one because an invoice was issued. The underlying facts still govern.

The probation period

Indefinite-term contracts are on probation for the first six months. Collective agreements may extend this to eight months in companies with six to one hundred employees, and to one year in companies with up to five employees.

During probation, either party may terminate without severance. The 2026 reform also removed the notice requirement during probation entirely.

For a foreign company building a first local team, this is the most valuable single feature of the current regime, and it is routinely wasted. Probation is a period in which to make a decision. Companies that let it lapse because performance management is uncomfortable acquire severance exposure they could have avoided.

Collective agreements are not optional

This is the structural feature foreign employers most often miss. Most Argentine employees are covered by a sector-level collective agreement negotiated between a union and an employers’ association. It applies to the employer by virtue of the activity carried on, not by virtue of any decision to join anything.

The agreement fixes wage scales, categories, allowances and often working-time arrangements. Identifying the correct agreement before hiring — not after — determines whether the payroll is right from the first month. Applying the wrong scale generates a rolling underpayment that becomes a claim on termination.

Working time, and the new flexibility

Statutory working hours are governed by the Hours of Work Act, with collective agreements frequently varying the arrangement.

The 2026 reform introduced a new provision allowing employer and employee to agree a system for compensating overtime, including an hours bank. It must be in writing, must record the voluntary nature of overtime and its limits, must specify how the system operates, and must establish a reliable control method allowing both parties to record hours actually worked and hours available to be taken.

The written formalities are conditions, not suggestions. An hours bank operated informally is overtime that was never paid.

The reform also repealed the statutory night-work supplement. Collective agreements may still provide one, and many do — so the question moves from the statute to the applicable agreement.

Sick leave, tightened

Two changes matter operationally.

Notice of illness must be given during the first working day of absence, together with the employee’s location, absent force majeure. Without notice the employee loses pay for the period, unless the illness and the impossibility of giving notice are subsequently established unequivocally.

Medical certificates must now contain the diagnosis, the treatment and the number of days of rest prescribed. A certificate lacking these elements does not justify the absence.

Employers should update their absence policy to reflect both changes. Most local policies still describe the previous regime.

Concrete legal risks ⚠️

Hiring on the wrong collective agreement. The error compounds monthly and surfaces as a claim for wage differences, recalculated severance and social security contributions.

Treating the invoice as the answer. The reformed presumption helps employers materially, but a relationship that is dependent in fact remains an employment relationship. Misclassification is the most expensive recurring error foreign companies make in Argentina, and it is worth its own analysis. We set out the test and the exposure in our note on contractor or employee.

Letting probation expire by default. There is no way to recover the position afterwards.

Informal overtime arrangements. Without the written framework, the hours bank does not exist and the hours are payable.

Registration defects. Late registration or an understated salary generates exposure that survives the reform of the fines regime.

What to do before the first hire 📌

• Identify the applicable collective agreement for the activity, and the correct category for each role.
• Register from day one and diarise the probation end date at the moment of hiring.
• Issue written contracts that reflect the actual arrangement, including any overtime or hours-bank system.
• Rewrite the absence policy to require first-day notice and compliant medical certificates.
• Audit any existing contractor arrangements against how the relationship actually operates.
• Budget the full cost, not the gross salary — employer contributions and severance provisioning change the number substantially.

The strategic view

The direction of Argentine employment reform since 2024 has been consistently toward the employer: a longer probation period, a narrower presumption of employment, more flexible working time, a reduced litigation risk profile.

Two qualifications belong alongside that. First, the framework rests on legislation whose constitutionality is being litigated; the courts have so far allowed it to operate, but the substantive debate remains open. Second, the reforms reward employers who do the formalities properly and offer nothing to those who do not. Almost every advantage in the current statute is conditional on something being in writing, registered or notified on time.

If you are building an Argentine team and want the employment framework set up correctly from the first hire, our employment team works with foreign employers on exactly this. Get in touch.