Alternate Dispute Resolution and Labor Related Claims in Colombia

Jorge Posada of Parra, Rodríguez, Cavelier discusses mandatory steps to be completed before labor related litigation may begin.

In the 1990's Colombian Government policy regarding the judiciary has concentrated around improving the speed with which cases are tried by judges due to the fact that courts are overworked and have a significant backlog of cases. On the labor front, one of the solutions enacted is the use of alternate dispute resolution methods.

Alternate dispute resolution is not a new idea in labor related claims; in Colombia conciliation has been in use since enactment of the Labor Procedure Code of 1948. The procedure then created included pretrial settlement before an administrative authority (labor inspector) and settlement during trial, in a hearing held by the judge. Effects given to conciliatory agreements thus reached were 'res judicata', that is, the same effect a court decision has once there are no more appellate options open to the parties.