Labor and Social Security Law
Content current as of September 2, 2026.
Colombia's 2026 Minimum Wage: What Companies Need to Adjust
Colombia's 2026 minimum wage went through an unusual judicial process before regaining legal force after the interim measure that had suspended it was revoked: an initial decree, a provisional suspension, a transitional decree, and a later decision that reinstated the original value. This guide explains to companies what they are required to adjust, which items do not increase automatically, and the current legal status of the minimum wage as of this update.
The minimum wage increase does not, by itself, raise every item on the payroll. Some adjustments are mandatory for every company, others depend on whether a worker earns a multiple of the minimum wage, and others simply do not change unless an individual agreement or a collective bargaining agreement provides for it.
Schedule a consultation to review your payroll adjustmentsLegal Status of the 2026 Minimum Wage
Decreto 1469 de 2025 set the Colombian statutory monthly minimum wage (salario mínimo legal mensual vigente, or SMLMV) for 2026, with a 23% increase over 2025. On February 12, 2026, the Consejo de Estado provisionally suspended that decree, finding that compliance with the criteria of article 8 of Ley 278 de 1996 for the unilateral setting of the minimum wage had not been fully established.
As a transitional measure while that suspension was in force, the Government issued Decreto 159 de 2026, which kept the same value and the same 23% increase. That transitional decree ceased to govern once the provisional suspension was lifted, and today it stands only as a record of that period.
On July 9, 2026, the Consejo de Estado revoked the February provisional suspension, and Decreto 1469 de 2025 regained full legal force. According to specialized coverage of that decision, the Sección Segunda found that the interim measure had not shown a concrete harm that would justify it, and that the underlying question belonged in the case's final ruling rather than in a provisional measure. This guide did not directly verify the literal text of that ruling, so its reasoning is presented with that caveat, and Decreto 159 de 2026 has stood since then only as a superseded transitional measure.
The action for annulment of Decreto 1469 de 2025 (docket 11001-03-25-000-2026-00004-00) remains pending. As of this update (September 2, 2026), no final ruling issued after the July revocation was identified in the sources consulted. The 2026 minimum wage is fully in force today, but the underlying case remains open, and a later decision could change this situation.
Current Values for 2026
The SMLMV went from $1,423,500 in 2025 to $1,750,905 in 2026, a nominal increase of $327,405, equivalent to 23% ($1,423,500 × 1.23 = $1,750,905).
The transportation allowance (auxilio de transporte), set by Decreto 1470 de 2025, went from $200,000 in 2025 to $249,095 in 2026, a 24.5% increase ($49,095 over $200,000). It is a fixed amount set by decree each year, not a multiple of the minimum wage, and a worker's entitlement to it depends on meeting the legal requirements explained further below. For a worker who earns exactly the minimum wage and meets the requirements to receive the transportation allowance, the sum of both amounts is $2,000,000 per month. This does not mean that $2,000,000 is a uniform or automatic wage for every worker who earns up to two times the minimum wage.
What Companies Are Required to Adjust
Not every payroll item changes the same way with the new minimum wage. It helps to distinguish three situations.
Some monetary amounts must change directly: the wage of workers who would otherwise fall below the new minimum must be raised to $1,750,905 as of January 1, 2026, and the transportation allowance of those entitled to receive it must be adjusted to $249,095, under the decree that sets it each year.
Other calculations change when a worker's actual wage or the relevant base changes, though not all of them the same way or for the same reason. The service bonus (prima de servicios) and severance pay (cesantías) are calculated on the computable wage, which includes the transportation allowance when the worker is entitled to it. Vacation pay is calculated on the wage alone, without that allowance. Overtime and pay premiums depend on each worker's ordinary hourly rate and on the rules in force for each type of premium. Social security contributions depend on each worker's income base for contributions (ingreso base de cotización) and on the particular rules that apply to their employment arrangement. And parafiscal contributions (aportes parafiscales) depend on the base, the applicable rate, and on whether the employer meets the requirements for any exemption in force. None of these items necessarily increases in the same proportion as the others: each one must be reviewed under its own rules.
And there are legal thresholds that are updated because they are expressed in multiples of the SMLMV: the work footwear and work clothing threshold (dotación), the minimum integral salary (salario integral), the social security contribution caps, and the ten-SMLMV threshold under article 114-1 of the Estatuto Tributario for the exemption from parafiscal contributions. These thresholds go up in peso terms because the SMLMV goes up, but that does not mean the amounts that depend on them increase on their own: the dotación is an eligibility threshold, not a payment that rises, and the transportation allowance has its own value set by a separate decree, not expressed as a multiple of the minimum wage.
What Happens to Wages Above the Minimum
The minimum wage increase does not, by itself, create a general obligation to raise wages that already exceed that amount by the same percentage. The Corte Constitucional, in Sentencia C-911 de 2012, noted that the situation of a worker earning the minimum wage is not comparable to that of a worker earning a higher wage, which helps explain why the law does not impose an automatic adjustment for the latter group. This reading is a legal interpretation of the practical scope of the wage-mobility principle in article 53 of the Constitución Política, not a rule of automatic adjustment expressly contained in that article.
In practice, how a wage above the minimum is treated depends on several distinct sources: the general obligation not to pay below the minimum wage in force; what is expressly agreed in the individual employment contract; what may be established in a collective bargaining agreement (convención colectiva) or a collective pact (pacto colectivo), where applicable; or a policy decision made by the employer itself. The loss of purchasing power that a wage above the minimum may suffer against inflation is a real economic circumstance, but it does not, by itself, become a contractual obligation to adjust the wage unless it is agreed or provided for in one of those sources.
Transportation Allowance
The transportation allowance for 2026 stands at $249,095 per month, under Decreto 1470 de 2025. It was created by Ley 15 de 1959, and a worker earning up to two (2) SMLMV is entitled to receive it, though that cap is not the only requirement for entitlement. The Sala de Casación Laboral of the Corte Suprema de Justicia, in judgment SL4267 de 2022, clarified that the allowance does not apply when the employer provides transportation free of charge and in full between the worker's home and workplace, or when the worker lives at the same place where they perform their duties.
The transportation allowance does not constitute salary, but article 7 of Ley 1 de 1963 provides, through a legal fiction, that it is deemed incorporated for purposes of calculating the service bonus and severance pay of a worker entitled to receive it. That incorporation also affects interest on severance pay indirectly, because such interest is calculated on the amount of severance pay already accrued. That same legal fiction does not extend to vacation pay, statutory indemnities, or social security and parafiscal contributions, which are calculated on the wage itself, without including the transportation allowance.
Social Benefits
Social benefits are calculated on the wage each worker actually earns, not on the minimum wage in the abstract. The service bonus is equal to 30 days of wages per year, payable in two half-yearly installments (article 306 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo, as amended by Ley 1788 de 2016). Severance pay is also calculated on that same wage base. The base for the service bonus and severance pay can therefore change for two reasons: because the worker's wage actually increased, and, when the worker is entitled to the transportation allowance, because that allowance went from $200,000 to $249,095. The increase in the allowance can affect these calculations even if a base wage above the minimum stayed the same.
When a worker is entitled to the transportation allowance, that amount must be included when calculating the service bonus and severance pay, under the legal fiction of article 7 of Ley 1 de 1963 explained in the previous section. The resulting increase in severance pay, in turn, affects the amount of interest on severance pay, because that interest is calculated on accrued severance pay. That incorporation does not extend to other benefits or to social security or parafiscal contributions.
Vacation
Every worker who has provided services for a year is entitled to fifteen (15) consecutive business days of paid vacation (article 186 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo). The value of that vacation is calculated on the worker's wage, without including the transportation allowance, which Ley 1 de 1963 does not incorporate for this item. The vacation adjustment is direct only for a worker who earns the minimum wage or who had an actual wage increase.
Social Security and Parafiscal Contributions
As a general rule, the base for calculating the social security contributions of a full-time worker cannot be lower than one SMLMV (article 18 of Ley 100 de 1993), with an upper cap of twenty-five (25) SMLMV. This general rule has special contribution arrangements (such as the integral salary, which contributes on 70% of its value) and particular situations, such as employment periods of less than a month or part-time employment, that should be reviewed case by case when updating payroll.
Both thresholds, the floor and the cap, go up in peso terms because the SMLMV goes up, which can affect the contributions of workers close to those limits.
As for parafiscal contributions, Ley 21 de 1982 keeps in place the general obligation to contribute to the family compensation funds (cajas de compensación familiar). Article 114-1 of the Estatuto Tributario provides an exemption from contributions to SENA and ICBF, and from certain contributions to the contributory health regime, for employers and with respect to workers who meet the requirements set out in that provision, including that the employer be a company or legal entity that is a filing taxpayer of income tax, and that the worker, considered individually, earn less than ten (10) SMLMV. Meeting that wage threshold is not the only requirement: the employer's nature and tax status must also be reviewed. For individual employers, the condition relating to the number of workers must also be checked: the exemption applies only if they have two or more workers; those with fewer than two remain obligated to make those contributions. Entities under article 19-4 of the Estatuto Tributario, a category that covers cooperatives and other entities of the solidarity sector subject to that regime, expressly retain the right to this exemption. Article 204 of Ley 1955 de 2019 incorporated that rule into paragraph 2 of article 114-1 of the Estatuto Tributario. Later, the Consejo de Estado, Sección Cuarta, through a judgment dated July 30, 2020 (docket 11001-03-27-000-2018-00014-00), annulled the regulatory language that had wrongly excluded article 19-4 entities from that benefit. The ten-SMLMV threshold is a reference point for determining who may access the exemption, not a monthly payroll cost figure or the only requirement that must be checked.
Overtime and Pay Premiums
The value of overtime and night-shift premiums is calculated as a percentage of each worker's ordinary hourly rate (articles 168 and 169 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo), so their adjustment depends on each worker's base wage, just like social benefits. The premium for work on a mandatory rest day or a holiday follows a different and more recent rule, introduced by Ley 2466 de 2025, phased in through July 1, 2027: that development is already explained in detail in our article on the Ley 2466 de 2025 labor reformour article on the Ley 2466 de 2025 labor reform, to which we refer readers instead of repeating it here. What matters for minimum-wage purposes is that this premium, calculated on a higher base wage, also goes up in peso terms for a worker earning the minimum.
Work Clothing and Footwear (Dotación)
Every employer that habitually engages one or more permanent workers must provide work footwear and work clothing (dotación) every four months to workers whose monthly wage does not exceed two times the SMLMV, provided they have more than three months of seniority as of the delivery date (articles 230 and 232 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo). The two-SMLMV threshold for 2026 is $3,501,810: it is the ceiling that triggers the entitlement, not a payment that itself increases.
Minimum Integral Salary
An integral salary may only be agreed in writing with workers who earn an ordinary wage above ten (10) SMLMV, and it can never be lower than ten SMLMV plus a benefits factor that cannot be less than thirty percent (30%) of that amount, that is, thirteen (13) SMLMV in total (article 132 of the Código Sustantivo del Trabajo). For 2026, that floor is $22,761,765 ($1,750,905 × 13).
Apprenticeship Contracts
The monthly support payment (apoyo de sostenimiento) under the apprenticeship contract is also indexed to the SMLMV, at different percentages depending on the training phase. That regime has its own complete treatment, including the mandatory apprenticeship quota and the payment in lieu of fulfilling it, in our guide on apprenticeship contracts in Colombiaour guide on apprenticeship contracts in Colombia.
What Your Company Should Review
- Any wages that fall below the new minimum, to bring them up to $1,750,905.
- Who is entitled to the $249,095 transportation allowance, checking the two-SMLMV cap and whether any of the exceptions recognized by case law apply, such as transportation provided by the company or the worker living at the workplace.
- Whether the calculation of the service bonus and severance pay correctly incorporates the transportation allowance for workers entitled to it.
- Whether any agreements, collective bargaining agreements, or internal policies require adjusting wages above the minimum.
- The calculation of vacation pay, overtime, and premiums on each worker's actual wage.
- Social security contributions, especially for workers close to the minimum and maximum contribution caps, and particular situations such as part-time work or incomplete periods.
- Whether the company meets the requirements of article 114-1 of the Estatuto Tributario for the SENA and ICBF parafiscal contribution exemption, reviewing not only the ten-SMLMV wage threshold but also the employer's nature and tax status.
- The provision of the required work footwear and work clothing (dotación) to workers entitled to receive it.
- Contracts with an integral salary, to verify that the thirteen-SMLMV floor is still met.
This list is not exhaustive, and it does not replace an individual legal review of each case.
Payroll Audit and Update
The Giraldo Velasco Abogados team provides a payroll audit and update service so that companies can verify, case by case, which items must be adjusted for the 2026 minimum wage and which do not change automatically. This service is part of our Labor and Social Security LawLabor and Social Security Law practice, and, where relevant, it can include reviewing contributions and their oversight through our UGPP advisoryUGPP advisory service.
Informational Notice
This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice for any specific case. The legal status described corresponds to the date of this update and may change if the Consejo de Estado issues a final ruling in the pending nullity action. Before making payroll decisions based on this information, we recommend verifying whether any later regulatory or judicial developments have occurred.