ARTICLE IN ENGLISH

THE CONCILIATION

WORK PRESENTED BY:

ANGEE TATIANA BAHAMÓN DUCUARA

TEACHER
GILBERTO CUELLAR BOTELLO

COOPERATIVE UNIVERSITY OF COLOMBIA

SEDE NEIVA (HUILA)
A conciliation operates whenever it concerns uncertain and debatable
rights, and this article basically operates for “extrajudicial” conciliations,
that is, those carried out before an entity or person other than the
competent labor judge, which is the case of the inspectors of work of
the ministry of social protection.

In this order of ideas, a labor conciliation in a labor office may be valid

provided that it is not contrary to article 15 of the substantive labor
code, especially if it is taken into account that the officials of the
Ministry of Social Protection do not have the power to declare rights
and settle disputes that correspond exclusively to labor judges, as is
the case with the certain and unquestionable rights referred to in the
article referred to above.
Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution mechanism that was
created precisely to decongest judicial offices. It is a friendly, voluntary
agreement, concluded between the parties with the intervention of a
competent official, who directs, drives, controls and approves it, and
which ends, totally or partially, a dispute that seeks to prevent possible
litigation. The conciliation produces two important legal effects: the first
is that it makes transit to res judicata, that is, it has the same effects of
a judicial sentence; and the second, which lends executive merit.

Given the specialization of labor law, and the inalienable nature of

minimum labor rights, conciliation in labor material is only valid insofar
as it is about uncertain and debatable rights. It should be understood
that the rights are of this type when the requirements that the law
foresees for their enforceability, their factual assumptions, or when
their existence is determined does not produce any doubt or
controversy.

Although, in labor matters, conciliation and transaction have the same

effects, the former is much more recommended by labor lawyers than
the transaction to resolve labor disputes. The foregoing, because: i)
labor conciliations have the participation of an administrative or judicial
authority and this produces in the signatory parties a greater sense of
commitment, and ii) the official who participates in the conciliation
verifies that the agreement complies with the necessary requirements
for its validity. Verify, among others, that the parties voluntarily come to
sign and verify that the inalienable minimum rights contemplated in the
labor legislation are not being violated with the agreement.

However, in practice many companies have the false belief that the
signing of conciliatory agreements is necessary each time a worker is
disconnected, especially when it comes to terminations without just
cause with the payment of the corresponding compensation. The
conciliations have become the formalization of the payment of legal
credits, thus forgetting their true purpose.

This generated a congestion in the Ministry of Labor that was attacked

by modifying the procedure to be followed in order to sign conciliations
with labor inspectors. Nowadays, in order to conclude a conciliatory
agreement in Bogotá before a labor inspector, it is necessary to file a
request justifying the reasons to celebrate it, and wait for a subpoena
that takes 15 to 30 days.

Many have chosen to sign labor conciliations before labor judges, but
this practice will end up producing the same effect: instead of
decongesting judicial offices, they will congest them to the extent that
unnecessary conciliations continue. It will be necessary, then, to really
analyze in which cases labor conciliations are required and in which
cases the parties can sign transactional agreements, if the signing of
any of these is really necessary
https://www.asuntoslegales.com.co/analisis/carolina-porras-506661/la-conciliacion-en-temas-
laborales-2045636

http://www.udea.edu.co/wps/wcm/connect/udea/36c0125b-4495-426d-822c-
a8e59643c3c5/GuiaInstitucionalDeConciliacionLaboral_MinJusticia.pdf?
MOD=AJPERES&CVID=kU7nz-j