As in many countries, there are specific rules in Argentina that govern the end of the employment relationship. For example, employers can dismiss employees with or without cause but must pay severance pay to dismiss an employee without a valid justification. Employees can also choose to resign from their positions, and there are set notice periods that apply in either case.
In this section, we’ll take you through everything you need to know about the end of the employment relationship in Argentina. We’ll cover notice periods for both employers and employees, different forms of dismissal, and the post-termination restrictions you can impose on your employees. We’ll also discuss the rules concerning what happens to employees after a transfer of undertaking.
Both employers and employees in Argentina must give the appropriate notice to end their employment agreement. Notice periods are defined by Argentine labour law.
Notice periods for employers in Argentina depend on how long the employee has been employed, as follows:
During the probationary period, the notice period is 15 days. Probationary periods can last for a maximum of six months.
Employees in Argentina only have to give their employer 15 days’ notice to resign from their position. This is the case for all employees, regardless of their seniority or length of service.
Employees who are dismissed without reasonable cause in Argentina are entitled to statutory sewerage pay of one month’s pay for each year of service or period of at least three months. This is calculated based on the employee’s highest monthly regular compensation over the last 12 months of work.
Employers in Argentina can terminate employees’ contracts at any time. However, if they don’t have a justified reason for termination, they must pay severance pay based on the employee’s salary and length of service.
Employees who are dismissed during the trial period are not eligible for severance pay. Union delegates have special protection and can’t be dismissed during their term and for one year afterwards. Dismissing employees who are pregnant, sick, or married carries additional severance compensation.
Employers don’t have to pay severance pay if they terminate an employee with cause in Argentina. Labour laws do not list specific valid justifications for termination, and breaches should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. As a general rule, employers can dismiss employees with just cause if the employee has failed to fulfil their obligations in a way that makes the continuation of the employment relationship impossible.
Employees in Argentina can choose to end their employment contracts by giving their employer 15 days’ notice. There is no severance pay in this case. If an employee resigns due to a breach by the employer, this may be considered as dismissal without cause by a labour court.
Special rules apply to collective dismissal in Argentina. If a company wants to dismiss a certain number of employees, it must first go through a mandatory conciliation procedure before the Ministry of Labour. The number of employees that constitute a collective dismissal is different depending on the size of the company, as follows:
If an employee in Argentina believes that they have been wrongfully terminated, they can challenge the dismissal before a labour court, claiming for payment of severance pay plus interest and legal fees. The burden of proving the cause of the dismissal is on the employer.
Post-termination restraints are restrictions that an employer puts on its employees’ actions following the end of the employment contract. These are generally only possible if they are intended to protect the legitimate interests of the business.
The following types of post-termination restraints (or restrictive covenants) are possible in Argentina:
There are certain rules that apply to post-termination restraints in Argentina. First, the employee must be compensated during the restriction period. The amount they receive must be fair and reasonable given their former salary and position and the extent of the restrictions.
There is no specific limit on the duration of restrictive covenants in Argentina, but they typically last between two and five years. In certain circumstances, courts have enforced restrictions lasting up to 10 years based on the business and the amount paid to the employee.
If an employee is in breach of an agreement, the employer may file a claim against them requesting compensation for damages. The court may require the employee to stop the violation immediately. Alternatively, a court may declare an agreement null and void if its terms are too broad.
In Argentina, any agreement that waives rights granted by labour laws is null and void. However, employers and employees can sign settlement agreements to terminate a contract while preventing employees from bringing a future claim against the company. Such an agreement is only valid if it is approved by the Ministry of Labour.
A settlement agreement that does not meet this condition does not prevent an employee from bringing a future claim, even if they received a settlement. In this case, the settlement amount would be taken on account of and deducted from any eventual ruling against the company.
A transfer of undertakings is when one business is wholly or partially acquired by another. In this situation, there are specific rules that apply to the employees of the company being transferred.
When an entity is transferred in Argentina, all obligations arising from the employment contracts in place are taken on by the transferee. Transferred employees retain their seniority and the rights arising from their contracts.
Employees who don’t want to be transferred can instead choose to terminate their contracts with the right to compensation. The transferer and transferee are jointly liable for any dismissals arising due to the transfer.
Before a business transfer can take place, employers are required to conduct internal consultations and collective consultations with trade unions. Neither the transferer nor the transferee are legally required to inform or consult with employees.
There are many different ways an employment contract can come to an end. But whatever the situation, you need to understand the rules that cover the end of employment in Argentina — or you could end up facing legal issues.
Our solutions ensure your business is protected from risk when a relationship with a worker comes to an end — whatever the reason. We can also help you to avoid missed opportunities by re-deploying talent where possible
There are two main grounds for terminating employment in Argentina: dismissal with cause and dismissal without cause.
Dismissal with cause may apply when an employee commits a serious breach that makes it unreasonable to continue the employment relationship. This can include serious misconduct, repeated unjustified absences, insubordination or abandonment of work. The employer must provide the reason for dismissal in writing. Dismissal without cause does not require the employer to prove misconduct, but the employee is generally entitled to statutory severance and other final payments.
Employment can also end through resignation, mutual agreement, retirement, expiry of a valid fixed-term contract or other circumstances recognised under Argentine law. Additional protections can apply when terminating certain employees, including pregnant employees, employees who recently married and employees with union protection.
In Argentina, employers must generally give one month for employees with up to five years of service, and two months for employees with more than five years of service. Since 6 March 2026, employers are not required to provide notice when employment is terminated during the probationary period.
Employees who resign must generally give their employer 15 days’ notice, regardless of how long they have worked for the company. Notice should be given in writing. If an employer terminates employment without providing the required notice, the employee is generally entitled to payment in lieu of notice.
Different rules can apply to dismissal with just cause, where the employer may terminate the employment relationship without the ordinary notice period or payment in lieu of notice. Employers should also check whether additional requirements apply under the employee’s collective bargaining agreement or employment terms.
Constructive dismissal, known locally as despido indirecto, happens when an employee ends the employment relationship because the employer has committed a serious breach that makes continuing impossible. This is the same standard used for termination of employment in Argentinainitiated by an employer, just applied the other way round.
Common triggers include unpaid wages, an unjustified demotion, harassment, or failing to formally register the employment relationship. The employee must first notify the employer of the grievance in writing, and if it goes uncorrected, communicate termination citing the specific cause.
A labor court then decides whether the grievance was serious enough. The competent court depends on the applicable territorial and procedural rules. The Justicia Nacional del Trabajo generally hears private employment disputes within its jurisdiction in the City of Buenos Aires, while provincial employment disputes are heard by the relevant provincial courts. If the court agrees, the employee receives the same severance as someone dismissed without cause. If not, the employee is treated as having resigned and loses that entitlement.
Severance pay in Argentina is owed whenever an employer dismisses an employee without just cause, and whenever a labor court finds that an employee’s constructive dismissal was justified. It is not owed where just cause is proven, where the employee resigns or retires, or during the probationary period.
A reduced rate, half the standard formula, applies to dismissals caused by force majeure or a genuine, unattributable drop in work, provided the employer can prove it. A separate 2024 regime increases severance by 50 to 100 percent for dismissals found to be discriminatory, with the burden of proving discrimination placed on the employee.
Where severance is owed, the amount is calculated using the employee’s best normal monthly remuneration from the last year worked, applying the same base used across Argentina’s Article 245 formula for years of service. Since March 2026, Article 245 expressly excludes non-monthly payments such as the aguinaldo, holiday pay and non-monthly bonuses from the salary base. It also provides specific averaging rules for variable monthly remuneration.
Employees leaving a job in Argentina are generally entitled to outstanding salary, accrued unused vacation pay and the proportional aguinaldo (SAC or 13th salary).
Additional payments depend on how the employment relationship ends. If an employee is dismissed without cause, statutory severance is generally payable. Payment in lieu of notice may also be due if the employer does not provide the required notice period.
An employee who resigns or is dismissed with just cause is generally not entitled to ordinary dismissal severance, but they must still receive the final salary and other accrued amounts owed to them.
Different rules can apply to fixed-term contracts, mutual termination agreements and employees with additional dismissal protections.
The employer must also complete the required employment and social security documentation when the employee leaves. Under the rules in force since March 2026, the employer generally has 45 business days from termination to provide the required employment certificates. The obligation may be satisfied through physical or verifiable digital delivery and, for information available through the official social security or ARCA systems, by making that information accessible through those systems.
A fixed-term contract, or contrato a plazo fijo, on its stated expiry date, subject to the statutory notice and payment rules.. For that expiry to operate without conversion to an indefinite contract , the employer must give written notice of non-renewal between one and two months before the end date.
When a party the notice, the contract is treated as continuing on an indefinite basis. If an employer ends a fixed-term contract early without cause, the employee is entitled to the applicable termination payments, calculated for this purpose by considering the seniority the employee would have accumulated up to the contract’s original expiry date.
When a fixed-term contract is fully performed and ends following the required notice, the employee is generally entitled to the reduced payment referred to in Article 250 where the contract lasted for more than one year.
Courts can also reclassify a fixed-term arrangement as indefinite if it gets renewed repeatedly in a way that looks like disguised permanent employment. A fixed-term contract may legally last for up to five years, but its duration and any renewals must be justified by the nature of the work. As with any termination, the employee is still owed proportional SAC and payment for unused vacation days at expiry.
Under Article 245, severance is generally calculated as: 1 month of the applicable salary base × each year of service, or fraction longer than 3 months.
For example, an employee with 6 years and 4 months of service would generally be counted as having 7 years of service, resulting in seven months of the applicable salary base.
The salary base is generally the employee’s best normal and regular monthly remuneration from the previous 12 months, or from the entire employment period if they worked for less than a year.
Following the 2026 reforms, the calculation excludes the aguinaldo (SAC), holiday pay and other payments that are not paid monthly. Specific calculation rules apply to variable remuneration.
A statutory cap may also apply where the employee is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, which can affect the final severance amount. The 2026 reform also allows a collective bargaining agreement to replace the ordinary Article 245 regime with an employer-funded termination fund or system.
It is the payment an employer may owe for the remaining days of the month when an employee is dismissed before the last day of that month.
For example, if an employee is dismissed on 15 September, the payment would generally cover the remaining days through 30 September.
Under Article 233 of Argentina’s Labour Contract Law (LCT), this payment is separate from payment in lieu of notice and Article 245 severance where those amounts are also due.
A proportional amount of the aguinaldo (SAC) is also generally calculated on the integración del mes de despido.
This payment does not generally apply when termination takes place during the probationary period.
Yes. Either the employer or the employee can substitute a payment in lieu of the working notice period in Argentina, rather than requiring the employee to work through it. This substitute payment, called “indemnización sustitutiva de preaviso”, equals the salary the employee would have earned during the unworked notice period, and it uses the same salary base as severance.
It also carries its own proportional SAC component, just like ordinary wages would. The amount therefore varies with seniority. It mirrors whatever working notice period would otherwise apply, whether one month, two months, or 15 days during probation. No statutory notice or payment in lieu is required during the probationary period under the rules in force since March 2026.
In practice, when an employer dismisses an employee immediately rather than having them work out notice, this payment is usually combined with the integration of the dismissal month, covering the employee through to the end of that calendar month as well.
CXC helps reduce wrongful termination risk in Argentina by reviewing the reason for termination, checking the required process and notice, calculating final payments and managing the employee’s offboarding in line with local requirements.
Through our Employer of Record service, we handle the local employment steps for the termination. This can include written termination documentation, notice or payment in lieu of notice, final salary, unused vacation, proportional aguinaldo and Article 245 severance where applicable.
We also check whether the employee has additional dismissal protections and whether a collective bargaining agreement affects the termination process or payments.
Our local team keeps track of changes to Argentine employment law and supports your HR team throughout the process, from the initial termination review through to final payroll and employment documentation.
Speak to our team to learn more about managing employee terminations in Argentina with CXC.
With our EoR solution, you can engage workers anywhere in the world, without putting your business at risk. No more worrying about local labour laws, tax legislation or payroll customs — we’ve got you covered.
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