Colombia Moves to Enforce Disability Hiring Quotas With New Employer Reporting Rules

Quarterly reporting and workplace-adjustment requirements would formalize compliance under the labor reform

Colombia’s Ministry of Labor (Ministerio del Trabajo) has published a draft decree that would establish how private employers must comply with disability hiring quotas introduced under Law 2466 of 2025, the country’s labor reform legislation.

The proposal sets out how employers must calculate the quota, report workers with disabilities to the government, implement workplace accommodations, and demonstrate compliance during labor inspections. If approved, the rules would affect thousands of private-sector employers and create new reporting obligations beginning June 26, 2026.

Colombia already has disability employment protections on paper through prior legislation, but enforcement has historically relied more on general labor inspections than on standardized employer reporting systems. This draft decree moves the policy from principle-based obligations to a more measurable compliance framework that is tied to specific quotas and reporting deadlines.

How the Hiring Quota Would Work

Law 2466 of 2025 requires employers with between 100 and 500 permanent workers to employ at least two workers with disabilities for every 100 employees. Companies with more than 500 workers must add one additional worker with a disability for each additional block of 100 workers.

The decree provides examples of how the quota would apply in practice. A company with 100 permanent workers would be required to employ two workers with disabilities, while a company with 500 workers would need 10. At 1,000 workers, the quota rises to 15 employees with disabilities, and larger employers would see the requirement continue to increase proportionally. Companies with fewer than 100 permanent workers would not be subject to the quota.

The obligation would be phased in over time. During the first year following the law’s entry into force, application of the quota would remain optional while employers conduct technical reviews of their workplaces and evaluate any adjustments that may be necessary. Beginning in the second year, compliance would become mandatory.

“Companies with up to 500 workers must hire or maintain at least two (2) workers with disabilities for every 100 workers.” — Article 15, Law 2466 of 2025

Which Workers Count Toward Compliance?

Under the draft decree, permanent workers are defined as employees hired under employment contracts lasting longer than one month, regardless of contract type. Temporary staffing companies would be required to count both their internal personnel and workers assigned to client companies when calculating their workforce.

The proposal also addresses apprentices. While apprentices would not increase the workforce base used to calculate the quota, apprentices with disabilities could count toward compliance. Employers that ensure at least 25% of their apprentices are persons with disabilities would also see their apprenticeship obligation reduced by half.

To be counted toward the quota, a worker must hold a disability certificate issued under Resolution 1197 of 2024 of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and be registered in Colombia’s Registro de Localización y Caracterización de Personas con Discapacidad (RLCPD), the national disability registry.

The requirement to be registered in the national disability registry is significant in practice because it links employer compliance directly to Colombia’s public health and identification systems rather than self-declaration or internal HR classification.

New Reporting Requirements

Beginning June 26, 2026, employers covered by the quota would be required to submit information to the Ministry of Labor identifying qualifying employees. Until the government’s planned national worker registry becomes operational, reports would be submitted directly to the ministry.

Employers would be required to provide company identification information, employee identities, hiring dates, disability certification documents, and certification of the company’s total number of permanent workers. After the initial filing, companies would be required to submit quarterly reports during the first 10 business days of January, April, July, and October.

The ministry would verify compliance by cross-checking employer submissions against disability certification records maintained by health authorities.

Reasonable Adjustments Become a Central Requirement

A substantial portion of the draft decree focuses on ajustes razonables, known in English-language disability law as reasonable accommodations or reasonable adjustments.

The proposal would require employers to evaluate workplace barriers, assess individual needs, and work with employees to identify accommodations that allow workers with disabilities to perform their duties effectively. Examples cited in the decree are physical accessibility improvements, adaptive furniture, assistive technologies, modified schedules, telework arrangements, and other workplace adaptations.

Employers would generally be expected to prioritize the accommodation preferred by the worker unless it creates a disproportionate or undue burden. Where a requested accommodation is not feasible, the employer would be required to justify its decision, propose alternatives, and evaluate whether those alternatives are effective.

The decree further states that failure to provide reasonable adjustments could constitute workplace discrimination. In Colombian labor practice, the concept of reasonable adjustments has increasingly been shaped by Constitutional Court jurisprudence, which has tended to interpret workplace accommodation as an enforceable obligation rather than a discretionary employer measure in cases involving protected groups.

When Compliance Is Not Possible

The draft also establishes a procedure for employers that believe compliance is genuinely impossible. This could include situations in which no qualified candidate with a disability applies for a position or where an employer argues that a specific role cannot be performed by a person within any recognized disability category, even after reasonable accommodations are considered.

In such cases, employers would be required to notify the Ministry of Labor and provide supporting evidence. Labor inspectors would then evaluate the claim, reviewing workplace conditions, occupational-risk assessments, and the feasibility of accommodations before issuing a determination.

Any finding of impossibility would remain valid for no more than one year and would not reduce the employer’s calculated quota. This mechanism is designed to prevent employers from using operational constraints as a permanent exemption, limiting impossibility findings to time-bound administrative determinations subject to renewal and review.

Inspections and Enforcement

Employers covered by the quota would also be required to publish vacancies through Colombia’s Public Employment Service (Servicio Público de Empleo), which would refer candidates, including applicants with disabilities.

Compliance would be monitored through quarterly reports, payroll reviews, and verification of disability certifications. Employers found in violation could face administrative investigations under Law 1610 of 2013, which governs labor inspections and sanctions.

The ministry said personal information collected through the reporting process would be handled in accordance with Colombia’s data protection regime established under Law 1581 of 2012.

Part of a Broader Inclusion Framework

The draft decree builds on Colombia’s existing legal framework for disability rights and workplace inclusion. It incorporates principles established under Statutory Law 1618 of 2013, Law 361 of 1997, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and International Labour Organization Convention 159.

The proposal also references recent Constitutional Court jurisprudence, including Sentencia T-062 of 2025, which addressed employers’ obligations regarding reasonable accommodations in the workplace.

The draft decree, signed by Minister of Labor Antonio Eresmid Sanguino Páez, has been published for public comment before moving forward in the regulatory approval process.