Ley Karin: the 5 documents every company in Chile must have

Law 21.643, known as Ley Karin, has been in force since 1 August 2024 and amended Chile's Labour Code to prevent, investigate and sanction workplace harassment, sexual harassment and violence at work. It applies to every employer, public or private, regardless of size. A three-person family business has the same core obligations as a corporation; what changes is the fine scale.

In its first year the mutual insurers recorded more than 33,000 early psychological attentions linked to complaints, with workplace harassment as the main cause and a clear concentration in large companies and the services sector. Small companies show few cases, not because the problem does not exist, but because their complaint channels are immature.

The five documents

1. Prevention protocol

A written document describing how the company prevents workplace harassment, sexual harassment and violence at work, including violence from third parties (customers, users, suppliers). It must be included in the Internal Order, Hygiene and Safety Regulations and communicated to every worker. Its minimum content is set by the law's regulation, Decree 21.

2. Complaint channel

An accessible and confidential channel, written or electronic, that guarantees the complainant's identity is protected and the procedure's integrity is preserved. It can be an email, a form or a platform, but it must work and be known to staff, including people working in the field or on third-party premises.

3. Investigation procedure

It defines who receives the complaint, which immediate safeguard measures are adopted (separate spaces, shift change, redistribution of duties), who investigates and how confidentiality, impartiality and a gender perspective are protected. The internal investigation must conclude within 30 days; the company may also refer it to the Labour Directorate. In subcontracting cases, the principal company investigates.

4. Appointment of investigators

The company must define who investigates complaints and train those people. In small companies it is usually a manager or an external adviser; what matters is that it exists before the first complaint arrives.

5. Communication and training records

Attendance list of the protocol briefing, proof of delivery of the updated regulations and records of training for managers and investigators. Without evidence, for the inspector the protocol was never implemented.

What the Labour Directorate checks

Since 2025 Ley Karin has been an inspection priority. The inspector verifies that the protocol is written and inside the regulations, that the complaint channel exists and is confidential, that the procedure has deadlines and owners, and that staff know it. Fines follow the general Labour Code scale and can reach 60 UTM per infraction in companies with 50 or more workers; each infraction counts separately and repeat offences aggravate.

The link with psychosocial risk

DS 44 added violence and harassment as risk factors that must appear in the IPER matrix, and the CEAL-SM psychosocial surveillance protocol measures the work climate every two years. A good Ley Karin programme uses both instruments to prevent rather than react: if the questionnaire reveals leadership or workload problems, the intervention plan must address them before they turn into complaints.

At WYPREV we implement the Ley Karin protocol together with the internal regulations and the psychosocial assessment, and we train the people who will investigate. If you have questions about your case, the site assistant can guide you in a minute.