Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
161
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Violations of the right to job stability:
The case of early dismissal
Vulneraciones al derecho a la estabilidad laboral: El
caso del despido intempestivo
Linda Keila Zambrano Rivera
Independent legal researcher
City:
Guayaquil
Country:
Ecuador
Original article (miscellaneous)
RFJ, No 11, 2022, pp. 161-174, ISSN 2588-0837
ABSTRACT:
This research analyzes the legal figure of early
dismissal considered in the Labor Code for the private sector
and its relationship with a potential violation of the right to job
stability. Thus, an analysis is proposed based on data collected
in the city of Guayaquil (the metropolis has been taken as a
case study). This “miscellany” is relevant because its legal
antecedents are related to a current “contradiction” between
Articles 33 and 325 of the Constitution and Article 188 of the
Labor Code. According to these legal norms, work is a right, a
social duty, and an essential source of income for the family
economy. However, in the author’s opinion, the State does not
end up effectively guaranteeing the right to work. Nor does
it protect workers’ rights by applying early dismissal, thus
violating the principles of stability and continuity of work.
Therefore, after a review of the literature, this contribution
uses the application of surveys and group interviews (focus
groups). These techniques were relevant to identify among
men of law the cause and consequences of early dismissal and
illustrate aspects such as workers’ compensation in the event of
early dismissal, the application of fines to employers, and other
related aspects.
DOI 10.26807/rfj.vi8.224
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
162
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
KEYWORDS:
Social and economic rights, legal systems, law,
labor, code.
R
ESUMEN:
Este artículo analiza la figura jurídica del despido
intempestivo considerada en el Código del Trabajo para el sector
privado y su relación con una potencial violación del derecho a
la estabilidad laboral. En ese sentido, se plantea un análisis a
partir de datos recabados en la ciudad de Guayaquil (metrópoli
tomada como caso de estudio). Este aporte es relevante y
adquiere mayor notoriedad si se considera que sus antecedentes
se encuentran en la contradicción entre los artículos 33 y 325
de la Constitución de la República y el artículo 188 del Código
del Trabajo. Según estas normas legales, el trabajo es un
derecho, un deber social y una fuente de ingresos esencial para
la economía familiar. Sin embargo, en opinión de la autora, el
Estado no termina por garantizar de manera efectiva el derecho
al trabajo. Tampoco protege los derechos de los trabajadores
al aplicar el despido intempestivo, violando de esta forma los
principios de estabilidad y continuidad laboral. Por lo tanto,
después de una revisión de la literatura, este aporte recurre a
la aplicación de encuestas y entrevistas grupales (
focus group
).
Estas técnicas fueron relevantes para identificar entre hombres
de leyes la causa y las consecuencias del despido intempestivo
y, asimismo, ilustrar aspectos como la compensación de los
trabajadores en caso de despido intempestivo, la aplicación de
multas a los empleadores y otros aspectos relacionados.
PALABRAS CLAVE
: derechos sociales y económicos, régimen
jurídico derecho, trabajo, código.
JEL CODE:
F16, J01.
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
163
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
INTRODUCTION
Labor Law studies the legal relationships derived from
the exercise of a human and fundamental right, which is the
right to work. Consequently, work is understood as a legal act,
as a subsistence, by allowing human beings to work to carry
out dignified activities capable of sustaining the maintenance of
their lives and their families. According to Luis Cueva Carrión
(2013): “Rights are not true rights if they cannot be demanded.
A right does not exist if it is not enforceable and achievable
because unenforceable right is non-existent right” (n. p.).
When reviewing articles 33 and 325 of the Constitution
of the Republic of Ecuador, the characterization and declaration
of work as a right and a social duty is observed. Therefore, as
a source of personal fulfillment and the base of the family
economy. It is argued that the State will guarantee this right and
protect the worker (CRE, 2008). However, in the Ecuadorian
case, the Labor Code (2005) in its Art. 188, does not guarantee
the “right to stable and permanent work”, for which figures such
as early dismissal - provided for in that legal body - lead to the
violation of the principles of stability and continuity of work.
These actions, even if they are “legal”, allow the
presence of excesses and even abuses committed by employers,
as they can unilaterally alter the agreements that were made at
the beginning of the employment contract (where the employer,
when dismissing the worker, would be ending the employment
relationship “without cause”).
The problem is formulated based on the legal fact
that occurs with early dismissal and when the constitutional
right to job stability is violated through this legal figure. Then
some general questions arise: What are the constitutional
rights around work that the Ecuadorian State recognizes and
guarantees? What would be the factual consequences of the
early dismissal?
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
164
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
These questions are relevant since they allow defining
the objectives of this brief miscellany that revolve around the
need to identify early dismissal, its causes, and consequences;
and establish the factual elements that justify the need legally
and doctrinally for legislative reform of Art. 188 of the Labor
Code.
1
1. CONSIDERATIONS FROM THE DOCTRINE
The obligations of the State and the workers are
reciprocal and dependent, since being the product and member
of society, the human being needs the State to provide him,
according to the principles of equality and justice, with material
and spiritual means for his improvement. For its part, society
requires its members to perform work to produce national
wealth that allows it to attend to national duties. It is the State
that has the factual and legal obligation and duty to demand that
the authorities administer justice and generate legal provisions
in the most favorable sense for workers in the event of darkness.
However, the Labor Code (2005), in Article 188,
establishes the labor legal institution of early dismissal,
and through this legal figure, the right to job stability
(constitutionally recognized) is violated. This consideration
represents the motivation that justified an analysis inspired
by the “idyllic dilemma” of guaranteeing job stability and the
-useful- right to work.
1.1. Expanding the “dilemma”: some consequences of early
dismissal
If the study of the consequences of early dismissal for
workers is deepened, and the criteria of Selye (1950) are used,
stress will be identified. This is presented as the organism’s
1
For this brief miscellany, the research was carried out in the city of
Guayaquil in the 2019 period. The following consideration works as a
hypothesis: regulating the process of early dismissal, established in the
Labor Code, will help avoid job stability as the aim of the system.
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
165
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
response to the perception of a threat characterized by the
prevalence of phases. The first alarm phase is where the body
prepares to give a response. The second phase of resistance,
where specific changes appear that will allow the individual
to face a situation, and finally, a third phase is characterized
as exhaustion, where there is a waste of energy used to face a
threat. This same author establishes that there is a similarity
between stress and depression and argues that both are the
result of “experiential scenarios” that lead to an increase in blood
pressure, heart rate variability, and other severe impairments
in the functioning of the organism—adding others of a social
nature such as the appearance of aggressiveness, propensity for
isolation and non-recurring irritability.
Continuing with this line of argument, Rodríguez
Carvajal (2011), based on Selye’s contribution, shows that these
effects are produced by the lack of job stability that haunts
workers in emerging economies and is not at all mitigated by
permissive legislation against the introduction of figures such
as early dismissal.
Concomitantly with the above, for Coduti (2011),
anxiety and stress are consequences of negative experiential
scenarios that also generate discouragement, tiredness, apathy,
frustration, shock states, post-traumatic neurosis, dyspepsia,
gastritis, and these can be attributable to circumstances such as
that caused by early dismissal. Peiró and Lira (2013), for their
part, favor these postulates when finding a scientific degree of
verifiable correlation.
These considerations are not overlooked by the
International Labor Office in Geneva (2013), which, in the
edition of a manual titled “Prevention of stress at work,” explores
aspects such as safety in one of its sub-themes of employment
and protection of worker’s rights.
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
166
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Finally, Camacho Ramírez (2017) analyzes those
psychosocial risks that are influenced by work situations that
have a high probability of damaging the health of workers,
physically, socially, and mentally. This author also maintains
that psychosocial risk can trigger events or situations that
lead to harmful damage to the worker’s health, causing mental
illness, affective disorders, depression, demotivation, and low
self-esteem, among others.
2. METHODOLOGICAL GUIDELINES
This miscellany used the survey and the focus group as
techniques, and instruments, the multiple-choice questionnaire,
and the script for the open group interview (through which
the interviewer could formulate new questions if deemed
necessary). Regarding the population, this was represented
by free-exercise professionals attached to the Guayaquil Law
School (16,566 adult individuals of both genders) and the
sample by a total of 193 lawyers. Likewise, it considered 0.5
probability of occurrence and 0.5 non-occurrence, with a
margin of error of 0.05% and a confidence level of 1.96%.
Through the application of the multiple-choice
questionnaire, it was determined that early dismissal violates the
right to job stability, identifying the causes and consequences
that this produces, regardless of the type of contract in which
it is applied. Also, the non-correspondence between articles
33 and 325 of the Constitution of the Republic and the Labor
Code in article 188 was identified. The first norm proposes
guaranteeing the right to work and job stability, and the second
applies early dismissal. Although this problem should entail a
legal solution that gives primacy to the constitutional norm due
to its higher hierarchy it exemplifies a fundamental theoretical
assumption that cannot be verified.
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
167
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
The applied questionnaires presented the following questions:
1)
Do you believe that the employer, when applying the
early dismissal, generates factual and legal insecurity,
and contradicts the norms and spirit of the Constitution
of the Republic?
Table 1:
Results of the first question
Items
Total
Real
%
In total agreement
193
112
58%
Partially agree
193
21
11%
Neutral or undecided
193
8
4%
Partially disagree
193
30
16%
Strongly disagree
193
22
11%
Own elaboration
58% of the respondents, representing 112 of the
193 sampled, assure that when an employer applies the early
dismissal, it generates factual and legal insecurity in the
workers and contradicts the Constitution’s norms and the spirit
of the Republic. Another 11% partially answered in agreement,
4% behaved indecisively, and 27% acknowledged that such
contradiction occurs.
2. Do you consider that early dismissal affects the worker’s job
stability?
Table 2:
Results of the second question
Ítems
Total
Real
%
In total agreement
193
176
91%
Partially agree
193
5
3%
Neutral or undecided
193
4
2%
Partially disagree
193
4
2%
Strongly disagree
193
4
2%
Own elaboration
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
168
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Early dismissal affects job stability in general, 91%
answered affirmatively to the question, 3% partially agreed, 4%
undecided, and 4% partially or disagreed.
3. Do you consider that early dismissal in Guayaquil is a
generalized social problem?
Table 3:
Results of the third question
Ítems
Total
Real
%
In total agreement
193
135
70%
Partially agree
193
30
16%
Neutral or undecided
193
6
2%
Partially disagree
193
17
9%
Strongly disagree
193
5
3%
Own elaboration
In Guayaquil, early dismissal also involves a social
problem that affects most public and private entities. 86% of
those surveyed stated that they totally and partially agree
with the existence of this problem, 12% choose to totally and
partially disagree, and 2% remain neutral.
4. Do you consider that it is necessary to establish reforms in
Article 188 of the Labor Code?
Table 4:
Results of the fourth question
Items
Total
Real
%
In total agreement
193
176
91%
Partially agree
193
6
3%
Neutral or undecided
193
8
4%
Partially disagree
193
2
1%
Strongly disagree
193
1
1%
Own elaboration
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
169
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
The Labor Code regulates in its article 188 the early
dismissal. 91% of the respondents state that it is necessary to
modify this legal body so as not to affect the job stability. 3%
state that they partially agree, while 2% do not agree with this
criterion, and 4% abstain from giving their opinion.
On the other hand, from the focus group’s application,
it was possible to identify that the experts recognize that it is
necessary to reform article 188 of the Labor Code for the benefit
of the worker. Regarding early dismissal, this reform should
not only simplify the process of replacing the job; but a double
compensation for the monetary values not received until the
date of replacement. Besides, it is proposed to maintain three
months of remuneration for up to three years, as compensation
but not to exceed twenty-four months of remuneration, and
various training strategies on worker’s rights.
Likewise, the experts opined that many workers do
not know the ways and means through which they can defend
their rights to job stability. Sometimes because they have no
basic knowledge of job training, other times because employers
force them to sign their resignations through “psychological
pressure.”
Experts state that the psychological and personal
consequences that early dismissal produces in workers can
be numbered: tension, anguish, stress, altered moods, lack of
concentration, low self-esteem, sleep difficulties, irritability,
lack of appetite, apathy, dysfunctional homes, economically
drowned families, job demotivation, delays in economic
processes, in institutions among others.
Therefore, it was established that in the opinion of the
experts, early dismissal violates not only the occupational but
emotional stability of the worker, since it directly violates the
norms of good living. The employer, regardless of the provisions
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
170
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
of the Labor Code, does not compensate as established. It was
even stated that even the most significant violations are in
private institutions, wherein in all the cases cited, employers
must be subjected to lawsuits to comply with the provisions of
the law.
CONCLUSIONS
With early dismissal, factual and legal insecurity is
created in the worker. This scenario is in open contradiction
with what is stated in the Constitution of the Republic that
establishes that each worker has the right to work, and job
stability, as necessary conditions to achieve a good living.
However, the Labor Code violates this right in Article 188.
It is necessary to promote campaigns within civil
society focused on training ordinary citizens on their labor
rights. The introduction of public policies that allow the “labor
education” of the Ecuadorians to be promoted will be beneficial
in that it will favorably affect the reduction of factual and legal
insecurity of the worker, in the correct identification of labor
duties and rights, among others.
REFERENCES
Arias, F. (2006).
El proyecto de investigación. Introducción a la
metodología científica,
6th ed
.
Caracas: Episteme.
Asamblea Constituyente del Ecuador. Constitución de la
República del Ecuador [Const.]. (2008).
Ávila, H. L. (2006).
Introducción a la metodología de la
investigación.
México: Editores Unidos.
Baena, G. (1997).
Instrumentos de investigación.
México:
Editores Unidos.
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
171
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Blasco, J. and Pérez, J. (2007).
Metodología de la Investigación en
Educación Física y Deportes.
Madrid: Efrata.
Bronstein, A. (2015).
Pasado y Presente de la Legislación
Laboral en América Latina.
OIT, Equipo Técnico
Multidisciplinario (ETM), San José (Costa Rica).
Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/public/spanish/
region/ampro/mdtsanjose/papers/pasado.htm
Caal, J. C. (2015).
Métodos de investigación.
Guatemala:
Universidad San Carlos.
Cabanellas, G. (1981).
Diccionario Enciclopédico de Derecho
Usual.
Buenos Aires: Heliasta.
Camacho Ramírez, A. (2017). Riesgos laborales psicosociales.
Prolégomeros. Derechos y valores
, (2), pp. 159-172.
Chela Ortiz, J. A. (2017).
Estudio comparativo entre el despido
intempestivo y el visto bueno en la legislación ecuatoriana.
[Dissertation work]. Universidad Nacional de
Chimborazo. Retrieved from: http://dspace.unach.
edu.ec/bitstream/51000/4345/1/UNACH-EC-FCP-
DER-2017-0103.pdf
Coduti, P. S. (2011). Enfermedades Laborales.
Revista CES
Salud Pública,
(2), pp. 66-73.
Congreso Nacional del Ecuador. Código del Trabajo.
[Codificación 17 de 2005]. (16th December, 2005).
RO. 167 de 16 de diciembre de 2005.
Cueva Carrión, L. (2013).
El juicio oral laboral. Teoría, práctica,
y jurisprudencia,
3th ed. Ecuador: Ediciones Cueva
Carrión.
De la Cueva, M. (1978).
Nuevo derecho Mexicano del Trabajo.
México: Editorial Porrúa.
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
172
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Flanigan, R. (2000).
Vulnerability, and Bioethics.
Bioethics Fórum
,
16 (2). Retrieved from: https://practicalbioethics.org/
files/members/documents/Flanigan_16_2.pdf
Hernández Sampieri, F., Fernández Collado, C. and Baptista
Lucio, M. (2010).
Metodología de la Investigación.
México: Mc Graw Hill.
Londoño, P. O., Maldonado, G. L. and Calderón, V. L.
(2014).
Guías para construir estados del arte.
Perú:
International Corporation of Networks of Knowledge.
Recuperado de: http://www.colombiaaprende.edu.
co/html/investigadores/1609/articles-322806_
recurso_1.pdf
Maya, E. (2014).
Métodos y técnicas de investigación.
México:
Universidad Nacional Autónoma.
Mayorga, J. (2008).
Doctrina Teoría y Práctica en Material
Laboral,
1st ed
.
Cuenca: Ediciones Carpol.
Montoya, A. (1988).
Derecho del Trabajo.
Madrid: Tecnos.
Morán, S. (2010). La Unión Europea y la creación de un espacio
de seguridad y justicia. Visión histórica de la lucha
internacional europea.
Anuario español de derecho
internacional
, (26), pp. 251-284.
Morocho, M. M. (2nd April, 2017). Despido intempestivo.
La
Hora
.
Mújica, J. N. (2015).
Introducción al derecho del trabajo.
Perú:
PUCP.
Oficina Internacional del Trabajo en Ginebra. (2013).
La
prevención del estrés en el trabajo.
Ginebra.
Oficina Internacional del Trabajo. (2018). Prioridades de la
OTI.
Justicia Social
. Ecuador.
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
173
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Peiro, J. y Lira, E. (2013).
Estrés laboral. Nuevas y viejas fórmulas
en salud laboral.
Madrid: Pirámides.
Rodríguez Carvajal, R. and Rivas Hermosilla, S. (2011). Los
procesos de estrés laboral y desgaste profesional.
Medicina y seguridad del trabajo
, 57 (1), pp. 72-88. http://
dx.doi.org/10.4321/S0465-546X2011000500006.
Selye, H. (1950).
Estrés un estudio sobre a ansiedad.
Philadelphia:
J. B. Lippincott Co.
Solórzano León, J. G. (2014).
Falencias jurídicas en la aplicabilidad
del Sistema Libre de Despido en la Legislación laboral
ecuatoriana.
[Dissertation work]. Universidad Central
del Ecuador. Retrieved from: http://www.dspace.
uce.edu.ec/bitstream/25000/3833/1/T-UCE-0013-
Ab-145.pdf
Tagupanda Chuco, B. G. (2014).
Despido Intempestivo en los
contratos individuales de trabajo y su garantía constitucional
en el Ecuador.
[Dissertation work]. Universidad
Nacional de Loja. Retrieved from:
http://dspace.unl.
edu.ec:9001/jspui/bitstream/123456789/15515/1/
TESIS%20DESPIDO%20INTEMPESTIVO.pdf
Tamayo, M. T. (1997).
El proceso de la investigación científica.
México: Limusa S. A.
Tooze, A. (2017).
El diluvio. La Gran guerra y la reconstrucción
del orden mundial.
Barcelona: Critica.
Trujillo, J. C. (1973).
Derecho del Trabajo,
volume I
.
Quito: Don
Boscoso.
Zegarra, L. F. (2011). Línea de pobreza y salarios, 1913-1925.
Una primera aproximación.
Revista Economía
, XXXIV
(67), pp. 39-65.
Zambrano, L.
Violations of the right to job stability
174
Revista Facultad de Jurisprudencia RFJ No.11 Junio 2022
Received:
04/02/2020
Approved:
22/05/2022
Linda Keila Zambrano Rivera:
Independent legal researcher.
Email:
lindazam96@gmail.com
City:
Guayaquil
Country:
Ecuador
ORCID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3853-2849