Chile's 40-hour law: what changes for a restaurant, and when
Reviewed on October 23, 2026 · 4 min read
In short
The weekly maximum fell to 44 hours in April 2024 and to 42 in April 2026, and falls to 40 on 26 April 2028. Pay cannot be cut. Without agreement, the cut is applied by ending the day earlier on different days; for a team of 20 full-time contracts, the last step equals one person's shifts.
Ley 21.561 does not cut the working week overnight: it cuts it in steps, and each step means rebuilding the schedule. For a restaurant, where service does not get shorter when the working week does, every hour less per person is an hour someone has to cover.
The calendar
The law was published in the Diario Oficial on 26 April 2023 and set the reduction in three steps, counted from that date.
…se reducirá a cuarenta y cuatro horas al primer año; cuarenta y dos horas al tercer año y cuarenta horas al quinto año, contados desde la publicación de la presente ley en el Diario Oficial.
Today the maximum is 42 hours a week, and on 26 April 2028 it falls to 40. One detail confuses people: article 22 of the Labour Code already reads "cuarenta horas", because the law rewrote it in full, but a note in the Code itself says that figure applies gradually. It is not yet the maximum in force.
The same law forbids paying for the cut with salary: its application "en ninguna circunstancia podrá representar una disminución de las remuneraciones" (may under no circumstances reduce pay).
What it means for the schedule
The maths is simple and unforgiving. Each step removes hours per person, but Friday lunch still needs the same people on the floor.
From 42 to 40 hours: 2 h less per person per week
A team of 20 full-time contracts: 2 h × 20 = 40 h
40 hours a week: one person's entire shifts
Those hours get covered in one of three ways: with overtime, which has legal limits and costs 50% more; by hiring; or by redesigning shifts so the remaining hours fall where the demand is. The three are compared in hire or pay overtime?.
How the cut is applied to each day
Cutting the week forces a decision about which days get shorter. The law settles it like this:
- By agreement, between the employer and the workers or their unions. With agreement, the Labour Directorate has said the cut can be applied at the start or the end of the day, always within the ten-hour daily limit.
- Without agreement, the employer must shorten the end of the working day proportionally across the working days. Ley 21.755, from 2025, clarified what "proportionally" means.
For the step from 44 to 42 hours, the Labour Directorate's Dictamen 253/21 of April 2026 sets how it is done without agreement:
| Week of | Cutting the 2 hours, without agreement |
|---|---|
| 5 days | one hour less at the end of the day, on two different days |
| 6 days | fifty minutes less on two different days, and the remaining twenty on a third day |
The same dictamen says something worth knowing: an agreement signed for the 2024 step ends with that stage. The 2026 step needs a new agreement; without one, the rule above applies.
What changes besides the hours
- The four-day week. Today the working week is spread over five or six days. From 26 April 2028 it can also be spread over four, with no day above ten ordinary hours.
- The value of an overtime hour. It is calculated on the weekly schedule, so each step makes it more expensive. For 42 hours, the Labour Directorate publishes a factor of 0.0083333 on the monthly salary. The detail is in overtime.
- Part-time. Since April 2024 part-time means up to 30 hours a week, a fixed number that no longer depends on the full-time week. See part-time work.
How long is left
The next and last step, to 40 hours, is on 26 April 2028. That is enough time to test the new schedule calmly: how many people you need, which shifts change and what each path costs. Doing it in March 2028 is doing it blind.
How Batuta handles it
In Batuta a 40-hour contract is just another contract type, with its own rest rules. With an ensayo (a rehearsal copy) you can copy your restaurant, change the contracts to 40 hours and generate the whole month without touching the real schedule, to see which shifts fall short and what covering them costs.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the weekly maximum today?
- 42 hours a week since 26 April 2026. It falls to 40 hours on 26 April 2028.
- Can pay be reduced because people work fewer hours?
- No. Ley 21.561 says its application may under no circumstances reduce pay.
- What happens if there is no agreement on how to spread the cut?
- The employer shortens the end of the working day. For the step to 42 hours, the Labour Directorate set one hour less on two different days for five-day weeks, and 50 minutes on two days plus 20 minutes on a third for six-day weeks.
- Does the agreement we signed in 2024 still apply?
- Not to the 2026 step. Under Dictamen 253/21, an agreement signed for one stage ends with that stage; the next step needs a new agreement, or the no-agreement rule applies.
Sources
- Ley 21.561 (reducción de la jornada a 40 horas)
- Ley 21.755, art. 24 (cómo se aplica la rebaja sin acuerdo)
- Código del Trabajo, art. 22
- Código del Trabajo, art. 28
- Dirección del Trabajo, Dictamen 253/21 de 2026 (rebaja de 44 a 42 horas)
- Dirección del Trabajo, Dictamen 142/09 de 2026 (implementación de las 42 horas)
- Dirección del Trabajo, Dictamen 235/8 de 2024 (gradualidad de la rebaja)
- Dirección del Trabajo, Dictamen 213/7 de 2024 (rebaja al inicio o al término de la jornada)
- Dirección del Trabajo, Dictamen 745/38 de 2025 (colación imputable y rebaja de jornada)
This guide explains Chilean law for information only and is not legal advice. Legal quotations are given in the original Spanish, the authoritative text, and each links to its official source; if something changed after the review date, the source prevails.