Educational Internship System

1.    Background

The internship rules in force before the Law No 26,427 was enacted were regulated by:

a.  Decree No 340/1992, ruling on the corresponding curricula of official educational programs.

b.   Law No 25.165, applicable to university students.

c.   Section 2 of Law No 25,013, ruled by Decree No 1227/2001, applicable to unemployed students.

Law No 26,427 derogates the former internship systems ruled by Act No 25,165, Section 2 of Act No 25,013, Decree No 340/1992, Decree No 93/1995, its ruling and complementary decrees, and Section 7 of Decree No 487/2000.

2.    The new system

Law No 26,427 creates an exclusive Internship System within the framework of the Argentine Educational System for university students, for the education of young people and adults and for professional training of people older than 18 years old to be carried out either in public companies and organizations or also in private companies.

Pursuant to Law No 26,427, the internship contracts in force at the moment it becomes effective should be adapted to it within 180 days after the Law has been published in the Official Bulletin -on December 22, 2008-, except in what is referred to the internship contract duration.

The system implemented by the Law No 26,427 mainly states the following:

a. educational institutions and agencies’ authorities should enter into contracts with the companies and the public organizations where said system is going to be applied;

b. the jurisdiction educational authorities should be appropriately informed about these contracts within 5 working days after the contract has been signed;

c. the educational institution will have a guiding teacher and the company or public organization will have a tutor; they will work together to create a working plan to define the educational process through which the student will reach his/her learning targets;

d. in order to be elected for an internship program, the candidates shall sign individual agreements with the subscribers of the contracts, which will contain the internship conditions;

e. the educational organism or institution shall assign mentoring teachers who will supervise that the internship plans are complied with;

f. companies and public organizations shall maintain the original internship contracts and agreements for a period of 5 years after the completion of

the contracts and shall keep a record of each contract to inform about them to the social security and tax authorities;

g. internship programs do not imply any labor relationship between the intern and the company or public organization where they are carried out;

h. the internship figure should not be used to fill vacancies; neither to create new jobs nor to replace existing personnel;

i. if, after the internship contract completion, the company decides to hire the intern for an undetermined period, the company shall not be allowed to use the testing period mentioned in Section 92 bis of the Labor Contract Law,

j. the minimum internship term is of 2 months up to a maximum of 12 months, totaling 20 hours per week. Internship contracts can be renewed every 6 months; a new internship contract should be signed between the parties for each new period;

k. it is mandatory to include interns to the extent of Law No 24,557, which rules on workers’ compensation;

l. interns shall be paid a non-remunerative amount of money which shall be calculated upon the basis of the minimum wage of the Collective Labor Agreement applicable to the companies (“salario básico del convenio colectivo aplicable a la empresa”) as an stimulus for the services rendered; and will be proportionate to the hours worked. In case there is more than one collective labor agreement, the most favorable agreement for the intern shall be applied. In case there is no collective labor agreement, the stimulus payment will be calculated upon the basis of the minimum living wage (“salario mínimo vital móvil” );

m. interns shall receive the same benefits and permissions that the personnel receive, which are detailed in the regulation;

n. interns’ medical insurance will be the one ruled in Medical Insurance Law No 23,660;

o. the implementation and control of internships depend on the responsibility of the guiding teachers and tutors, who will inform about their progress on a periodic basis;

p. within 30 consecutive days after the completion of the internship period, the assigned tutors should send a performance appraisal report of the intern to the educational institution;

q. interns shall receive a certificate to evidence their attendance to the internship program specifying the length of the program and the activities developed by the them;

r. the Ministry of Labor and Social Security will supervise the compliance with this law;

s. the Ministry of Education shall keep a uniform registry of the internship agreements signed by the organizations and the educational institutions;

t. a maximum number of interns elected for this program shall be established and will be ruled by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

3.    Minimum requests for Internship Agreements

Future internship agreements shall:

a. have the name, address and legal status of the parties who subscribe the contract;

b. establish the learning targets of the internship educational program based on the educational background to be requested to the candidates;

c. establish the rights and obligations of the parties signing the contract;

d. establish that internship programs will have a minimum duration of 2 months up to a maximum of 12 months, on an hourly basis of 20 hours per week. internship contracts are renewable every 6 months;

e. establish the characteristics and conditions of the activities to be performed during the internship educational programs and the candidates’ profiles;

f. determine the duration and quantity of the proposed internship programs;

g. establish intern attendance obligations and determine the system for examination permissions and sick and accident leaves;

h. establish the property rights of the work contributions and new developments resulting from the interns’ work;

i. implement a medical insurance coverage at the company’s expense and determine the entity which will provide the workers compensation insurance;

j. schedule tutorial training programs as needed;

k. establish the term, review, expiration date and deferral conditions of the contract;

l. include the name of authorized persons to subscribe individual internship agreements.

4.    Minimum requisites for Internship Individual Agreements

Future internship individual agreements shall:

a. include the name, last name, CUIL [Sole Labor Identification Number] and domicile of the intern;

b. include the name, domicile and legal personality of the institutional parties and data of the persons authorized to subscribe the contracts ruled by the Agreement;

c. determine the rights and obligations of the signing parties;

d. include the educational internship plan – a working plan to determine the intern educational process in order to reach his/her learning targets;

e. include amount, date and place of the stimulus pay;

f. determine length, time schedule and location where the internship educational program will be carried on;

g. include a list of tasks assigned to the intern;

h. include attendance obligations, examination permissions, sick and accident leaves for interns;

i. include a regime of property rights for the interns who contribute with creations and new developments to their work;

j. include name, last name and CUIT/CUIL [Sole Labor Identification Number] of the assigned tutors and guiding teachers.

It is worth emphasizing that Law No 25,427 establishes that in case of non-fulfillment by the company with any of the requisites or characteristics herein described, the educational internship will cease and a labor contract for undetermined time will arise. In case of doubt, it shall be interpreted that the relationship between the intern and the company is a labor relationship and Labor Contract Law will apply.