Employment contract in Argentina: Template, Key Clauses and Local Law (2026)

Employment contracts in Argentina after the Ley Bases reform Employment in Argentina is governed mainly by the Ley de Contrato de Trabajo (LCT, Law 20.744), as amended in 2024 by the labour chapter of the Ley Bases (Law 27.742) and its regulation. The starting point to understand is the principle of primacy of reality: Argentine labour law looks at how the relationship actually works, not at the label on the document, and Article 23 of the LCT presumes that the provision of personal services creates an employment contract. This presumption is why a contract wrongly dressed up as something else is easily reclassified as employment. ## Contract types The default is an indefinite-term contract (contrato por tiempo indeterminado), which is the form the law favours. Fixed-term (plazo fijo), seasonal, and other special forms exist but are the exception, allowed only where the nature of the work objectively justifies them, and a fixed term used without that justification is treated as indefinite. The 2024 reform also expressly carved works, services, and agency contracts out of the LCT, leaving them to be governed by the Civil and Commercial Code, which matters when deciding whether to engage someone as an employee or as an independent contractor. ## Probation The probation period (periodo de prueba) was extended by the Ley Bases reform. For relationships started on or after 9 July 2024 the general probation period is six months, and a collective bargaining agreement can extend it further, with longer periods available for smaller employers (reported extensions reach up to one year for the smallest firms). During probation either party can end the relationship without the severance that applies afterward, though notice and registration obligations still apply. Confirm the exact period for your headcount and sector against the applicable collective agreement, because the reform set a framework that agreements and regulation fill in. ## Registration and mandatory contents Registering the employee properly is central in Argentina, because unregistered or under-registered work (empleo no registrado, often called trabajo en negro) carries significant penalties. A written contract should record the parties, the start date, the role and category under the applicable collective agreement, the workplace, the remuneration and its components, the working hours, and the contract type. Many terms are set by the applicable collective bargaining agreement (convenio colectivo) and by statute regardless of what the contract says, so the contract sits on top of a large body of mandatory law. ## Severance If the employer dismisses an employee without just cause, the LCT provides a seniority severance (indemnizacion por antiguedad) under Article 245, broadly one month of the best normal and usual monthly remuneration per year of service or fraction greater than three months, subject to a statutory cap tied to the collective agreement, plus a substitute-notice payment and other items. The 2024 reform also allows a collective bargaining agreement to establish an alternative severance system (such as a fund) that employers and workers can adopt by agreement in place of the Article 245 scheme. Because these amounts and the alternative system turn on the collective agreement and recent regulation, calculate them case by case with current figures. ## Sample wording > This is an employment contract for an indefinite term under the Ley de Contrato de Trabajo. The Employee is engaged in the role of [role], category [category] under the [collective agreement], at [workplace], from [start date]. > The gross monthly remuneration is [amount], payable by the deadlines set by law, together with the items required by the applicable collective agreement. The Employer shall register the employment relationship as required by law from the start date. > The first six (6) months constitute the probation period under the Ley de Contrato de Trabajo, as it may be extended by the applicable collective agreement. Adapt these to the collective agreement and confirm current figures; they are a starting point, not legal advice. ## Red flags to avoid Watch for a fixed-term contract used without an objective reason, which the law treats as indefinite. Watch for failing to register, or under-registering, the employee, which triggers penalties and aggravated severance. Watch for a contract that ignores the applicable collective agreement, whose terms apply anyway. And watch for labelling a genuine employee an independent contractor, which the primacy-of-reality principle and the Article 23 presumption will defeat. ## The weight of the collective agreement A point that surprises employers new to Argentina is how much of the relationship sits outside the individual contract. The applicable collective bargaining agreement (convenio colectivo) usually fixes the category and the minimum wage for the role, extra pay items, working-time rules, and often additional severance or benefit arrangements, and it applies regardless of what the individual contract says. Mandatory statutory items sit on top: the thirteenth-month salary (aguinaldo, paid in two instalments), paid annual leave that grows with seniority, and registration with the social-security and health systems. The individual contract should be read as one layer above this body of mandatory law, which is why a contract that merely restates generic terms, without checking the governing collective agreement, can quietly fall short of what the employee is actually owed. ## Keeping the workforce contracts straight A company in Argentina quickly holds many employment relationships, each tied to a collective agreement, a category, a probation clock, and its own registration and renewal obligations. The real difficulty is not drafting one contract but keeping the whole set aligned with the current law and agreements, and knowing which obligations and dates are coming up across the workforce. That is the idea behind a single contract workspace. Adira brings drafting, a per-clause view, version history, and key-date tracking into one place, tuned to how your company contracts, so obligations and dates are visible rather than buried in files. Adira is India-first today, with other jurisdictions on its roadmap, so Argentina-specific depth should be treated as developing, and local collective-agreement and registration requirements confirmed with Argentine counsel. This article is general information, not legal advice. For a specific employment contract in Argentina, confirm the current LCT, Ley Bases regulation, and applicable collective agreement with a qualified Argentine lawyer.