In late 2021, the Supreme Court ordered the federal government to implement a long-standing but previously unimplemented provision of the Employment Contracts Law that requires employers with 100 or more workers to provide daycare services for the children of employees. The resulting ruling decree (No. 144/2022) was published in the Official Gazette on March 23, 2022, and took effect on the same day; companies have one year to comply with the new requirement.
Notable aspects of the ruling decree include:
All municipalities provide childcare services, but the quality and availability vary considerably; as a result, a number of private providers have been established in large urban areas. Some of the companies surveyed by WTW (25%) already provide childcare benefits in the form of a monthly allowance. Beginning in 2021, employer reimbursements of the cost of daycare services for children under the age of three became tax-deductible (up to 40% of the basic tax exemption of 252,565 ARS) for employees working in establishments without a daycare facility. Though the deadline is March 23, 2023, affected companies should begin to consider how they will comply with the new requirements.