MINTRAB RERIT Guatemala 2026: Internal Work Rules Registration (Free, 30 Days)

Access note (2 September 2026): we could not open mintrabajo.gob.gt or rerit.mintrabajo.gob.gt from here: both domains answered with Cloudflare’s “Sorry, you have been blocked” on every path we tried that day, including a real headless Chromium browser. It is not just us — the Internet Archive’s crawler has been getting the same 403 on www.mintrabajo.gob.gt since April 2026. That does not mean the procedure is suspended — it means we could not re-read the portal today. So the operational details on this page (requirements, user manual, FAQ, templates) are quoted from MINTRAB’s own documents as archived, with their dates; the legal points come from the ministerial agreements and the Labor Code.

TL;DR: RERIT is the MINTRAB online system for registering your company’s Internal Work Rules (RIT). Mandatory for any business with 10 or more permanent employees. Registration costs Q0. When you submit the file you receive a constancia transitoria valid for 30 business days, which is the window in which the General Labor Inspectorate analyses the rules and either sends observations or approves them — it is not a maximum approval deadline. Without a registered RIT, you cannot legally enforce disciplinary actions against workers.

What is the Internal Work Rules document

The Internal Work Rules (Reglamento Interior de Trabajo, RIT) is the document an employer drafts to govern the day-to-day relationship with workers: schedules, breaks, disciplinary sanctions, safety rules, and internal procedures. It is required by Articles 57-62 of the Guatemala Labor Code (Decree 1441).

RERIT (Electronic Registry of Internal Work Rules) is the MINTRAB platform where you upload the document for the General Labor Inspectorate (IGT) to review and approve. Without that approval, the rules are not legally enforceable for sanctioning workers.

Don’t confuse with:

• RECIT — Electronic Registry of Individual Employment Contracts (one contract per worker).
• Electronic Salary Book — monthly salary payment registry.

RERIT registers one document that applies to all workers in the company.

Careful with the name — the government’s own catalogue gets it wrong. The official listing for service 1916 at tramites.gob.gt, which is the RERIT trámite page, calls the system RECIT twice while linking the RERIT address: it says “Todo reglamento interior de trabajo debe ser aprobado por la Inspección General de Trabajo a través del RECIT” and asks you to “Acceder al sistema de Registro Electrónico de Reglamentos Interiores de Trabajo -RECIT-”. That is a catalogue error, not two systems: the rulebook goes to RERIT (service 1916) and individual contracts go to RECIT (service 1915), which is run by a different MINTRAB body. If you search for RECIT and land on a page talking about work rules, you are on the RERIT listing.

The full legal chain behind RERIT

That is exactly the normativa the official service 1916 listing cites: “Código de Trabajo Artículos 57 al 62; Acuerdo Ministerial Número 540-2019 Instructivo para la presentación y registro en forma electrónica del Reglamento Interior de Trabajo; Acuerdo Ministerial 02-2020; y, Acuerdo Ministerial 333-2020”.

Two different start dates, and both are true. MINTRAB’s RERIT FAQ says the registry took effect “El 15 de abril del 2020, según Acuerdos Ministeriales 540-2019 y sus reformas”; the official slide deck and the launch press release say the platform was “habilitado en el sitio web del Ministerio de Trabajo” (www.mintrabajo.gob.gt) “a partir del 16 de octubre de 2020”. They do not contradict each other: the obligation to file electronically took legal effect on 15 April 2020; the RERIT platform itself went live on 16 October 2020. The press release adds that it is “un servicio gratuito, disponible las 24 horas, los 365 días del año” — free, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

One thing we could not verify, so we do not state it: the exact Diario de Centro América publication date of Agreement 333-2020 — and therefore the precise day it entered into force, fifteen days after that publication — because the copy MINTRAB distributes is the Ministry’s own letterhead original, not the gazette clipping.

Who is required to file

These are two different articles, and they are widely conflated. Article 57 of the Labor Code defines what the instrument is:

“Reglamento interior de trabajo es el conjunto de normas elaborado por el patrono de acuerdo con las leyes, reglamentos, pactos colectivos y contratos vigentes que lo afecten, con el objeto de precisar y regular las normas a que obligadamente se deben sujetar él y sus trabajadores con motivo de la ejecución o prestación concreta del trabajo.”

(Our translation: internal work rules are the body of standards drafted by the employer in accordance with the laws, regulations, collective agreements and contracts in force that affect it, for the purpose of specifying and regulating the standards to which the employer and its workers must necessarily be subject in connection with the concrete execution or performance of the work.)

The obligation to have one is in Article 58, not Article 57:

“Todo patrono que ocupe en su empresa permanentemente diez o más trabajadores, queda obligado a elaborar y poner en vigor su respectivo reglamento interior de trabajo.”

(Our translation: every employer who permanently employs ten or more workers in its business is required to draft and put into force its respective internal work rules.)

How the threshold is counted: Article 58 speaks of workers the business employs permanently — not everyone who passed through payroll during the year. The Labor Code sets no separate threshold for maquilas or free trade zones: the words maquila, zona franca and zonas francas appear in no article of Decree 1441 (full-text search of the Code). If your company operates under the Maquila Law (Decree 29-89), any such obligation would have to come from that law, not from the Labor Code — we do not assert it here because we did not verify it at its source.

Practical recommendation: even with fewer than 10 workers, a registered RIT gives you legal grounds for suspensions, late-arrival deductions, and disciplinary action. Without RIT, those sanctions can be voided in labor court. MINTRAB confirms this in its own FAQ: a business with fewer than ten workers may draft one because “la ley no lo prohíbe” — the law does not forbid it.

Ten workers or eleven? The agreement and the Code do not say the same thing

There is a genuine conflict between two official texts here, and it is worth settling before you decide whether this applies to you:

The Labor Code controls: the threshold is ten. A ministerial agreement is secondary legislation issued by the Ministry to implement the law; it cannot narrow an obligation Congress set in the Code, and the duty to have work rules arises from article 58, not from the instructive. The instructive governs how you file, not who must file. MINTRAB itself reverts to the correct text whenever it explains the obligation: its FAQ answers “Las entidades que tengan permanentemente 10 o más trabajadores” and its official deck quotes article 58 in full. The “more than ten” wording survives in the agreement’s own text and in the launch press release. If your company permanently employs exactly ten workers, you are covered by the obligation.

And a warning about the article numbers you will see cited. MINTRAB’s own FAQ misattributes twice: it credits the definition of the rules to “Artículo 56 Código de Trabajo” (it is art. 57) and the ten-worker obligation to “Articulo 57 Código de Trabajo” (it is art. 58). The launch press release goes further and refers to “el Artículo 1441 del Código de Trabajo”, when 1441 is the number of the decree, not of an article. If an adviser or a form cites art. 56 or 57 as the source of the obligation, they are not making it up — they are copying the Ministry’s own error. The articles that matter are 57 (definition), 58 (obligation), 59 (approval and publication) and 60 (content).

Requirements

To file the RIT through RERIT you need:

• Internal Work Rules drafted and signed by the legal representative or owner (PDF)
• Current RTU for the company (downloadable from portal.sat.gob.gt)
• Legal representation document:
  • Corporation: legal representative’s current appointment from the Mercantile Registry
  • Sole proprietorship: owner’s DPI/cedula and commercial license
• Commercial licenses (Patentes):
  • Corporate license (if a legal entity)
  • Business commercial license
• DPI of the legal representative (both sides)

For foreign legal representatives: valid passport + Guatemalan residency or migration status that allows legal representation.

The detail that sinks the most submissions: the rulebook is uploaded TWICE. The RERIT user manual is unambiguous — “Independientemente si el usuario utiliza el modelo sugerido o su propio modelo, este debe ser adjuntado en formato Word (para que el analista lo apruebe o le envíe previos) y en formato PDF debidamente firmado por el empleador, ya sea de forma manuscrita o por medio de firma electrónica avanzada”. In other words: the editable Word file so the analyst can work on it, plus the signed PDF. Uploading only the signed PDF is a guaranteed round of observations. The supporting documents (RTU, licences, appointment) do go in PDF only.

Who signs: per MINTRAB’s FAQ, “La persona que firma el reglamento debe ser el representante legal de la entidad, el administrador único o el gerente general” — the legal representative, sole administrator or general manager — signing by hand or with an advanced electronic signature, “sin importar el proveedor que elijas” (whichever provider you choose); and uploading it unsigned means “la solicitud será rechazada”.

Do not re-upload what you already filed in RECIT. The RERIT requirements sheet is explicit: “Si adjunto los documentos mencionados en el Registro Electrónico de Contratos (RECIT), no es necesario presentarlos de nuevo, el sistema lo hará de forma automática, únicamente debe verificar que estén vigentes”, and “Los documentos deben ser adjuntados una sola vez”. In the same vein you do not need a new account: RERIT accepts the same user you already use for the Electronic Salary Book and RECIT. What stays on you is currency: “El usuario es RESPONSABLE de verificar la vigencia de los documentos que adjunta, es decir, ACTUALIZARLOS.”

Mandatory content of the RIT (Art. 60 Labor Code)

Content is set by Article 60 alone; Article 58 only establishes the ten-worker threshold. Article 60 first asks for a general block — the technical and administrative rules necessary for the smooth running of the business (our translation), plus hygiene and safety rules, first-aid instructions in case of accident, and whatever else is needed to maintain discipline and protect company property — and in addition requires seven items, in this order:

Don’t overlook subsection c). A rulebook can describe schedules and discipline in detail and still say nothing about wage types or job categories — and that content is an express Article 60 requirement.

Hard limits in subsection e): Article 60 e) itself prohibits deducting any sum from workers’ wages as a fine, and provides that unpaid suspension may not exceed eight days, may not be imposed without first hearing the worker and the co-workers they name, and may only be applied in the cases expressly set out in the rulebook itself.

What you do NOT have to copy in: Article 57’s second paragraph says it outright — “No es necesario incluir en el reglamento las disposiciones contenidas en la ley” (our translation: it is not necessary to include in the rules the provisions contained in the law). The RIT is for what is specific to your company, not for transcribing the Labor Code.

Article 59 requires the Labor Inspectorate’s prior approval before an RIT takes effect — check these points before filing. It is well worth having a Guatemalan labor attorney review before uploading.

Step-by-step

Step 1 — Draft the rules. Hire a Guatemalan labor attorney or use official MINTRAB templates. The RIT must be drafted specifically for your company — a generic copy is the #1 cause of rejection.

Step 2 — Sign the document. The legal representative or owner signs every page. Convert to a clean PDF (not phone photos).

Step 3 — Create RERIT account. Go to rerit.mintrabajo.gob.gt and register a user with the company’s NIT (Tax ID), email, and phone. You’ll receive a verification code.

Step 4 — Start a new application. In the portal, select “New internal work rules registration.” Fill in general data: corporate name, NIT, address, number of workers, economic activity.

Step 5 — Upload documents. Load the rulebook in Word and as a signed PDF (both files, see above), plus RTU, legal representative’s appointment, commercial licenses, and DPI. Each file under 5 MB.

Step 6 — Submit for review. Confirm and submit. You’ll receive a case number — save it, you’ll need it to track progress.

Step 7 — Constancia transitoria and IGT analysis. Once the submission goes through, the system immediately emails the registered user a constancia transitoria carrying a QR code, which under Ministerial Agreement 333-2020 “tendrá una vigencia legal de treinta (30) días hábiles” — a legal validity of thirty business days. That is the period in which the General Labor Inspectorate analyses the rules and either sends observations (previos) or approves them — it is not an approval deadline, and no rule calls it one. Two practical points: the constancia can be re-downloaded from the system as often as you like, and it is what you show to a labor inspector who asks for your approved rulebook, as long as you are still inside those 30 business days.

Step 8 — Corrections (if applicable). If observations are noted, modify the RIT and re-upload. Clearing observations carries no fixed deadline, but doing so can trigger a fresh constancia transitoria stating the rules are back under analysis. What does run are the inactivity clocks, and they are unforgiving:

(Article 8 of Ministerial Agreement 540-2019, confirmed by MINTRAB’s own FAQ.)

Step 9 — Approval. If the IGT finds the rules lawful, either of the two Deputy Labor Inspectors General may sign the approval resolution with an advanced electronic signature — this is what Agreement 333-2020 changed; previously it was the Guatemala Departmental Delegate. The user manual says the approved rulebook is sent together with the resolución de aprobación, downloadable from the system; the service 1916 listing calls that outcome the “Constancia definitiva de Registro”. Every page of the approved rulebook carries a QR code. This is the document IGT will request during inspections.

Step 10 — Publish to workers (15 days in advance). Article 59 of the Labor Code is stricter than most employers assume. The approved RIT “debe ser puesto en conocimiento de los trabajadores con quince días de anticipación a la fecha en que va a comenzar a regir; debe imprimirse en caracteres fácilmente legibles y se ha de tener constantemente colocado, por lo menos en dos de los sitios más visibles del lugar de trabajo o, en su defecto ha de suministrarse impreso en un folleto a todos los trabajadores de la empresa de que se trate” — it must be made known to workers fifteen days before the date it takes effect, printed in easily legible characters, and kept posted in at least two of the most visible places in the workplace, or else handed to every worker as a printed booklet. So: one notice board is not enough, and the rules do not take effect the day they are approved but fifteen days after workers are told. The article’s second paragraph extends all of this to any later modification or repeal the employer makes.

Cost and timing

“Free” applies to registration, not to every modification

This is where almost every guide — including ours until this revision — falls short. MINTRAB publishes a template notarial acta of sworn declaration inside RERIT itself, and its instructions define exactly when it is required:

“Esta Acta Notarial de declaración jurada se debe adjuntar a la plataforma –RERIT- únicamente para la MODIFICACIÓN DE REGLAMENTO INTERIOR DE TRABAJO, si esta versa sobre: modificaciones de las jornadas laborales, pagos de bonificación o vulnerabilidad a los derechos previamente adquiridos por los trabajadores; dicha Acta debe ser firmada por el propietario o representante legal. El Acta Notarial deberá estar debidamente firmada por un Notario.”

(Our translation: this notarial sworn-declaration acta must be attached to the RERIT platform only for a MODIFICATION of the Internal Work Rules, where the modification deals with changes to work shifts, bonus payments, or impairment of rights workers have already acquired; the acta must be signed by the owner or legal representative, and must be duly signed by a Notary.)

Three consequences worth knowing before you touch the rulebook:

1. It costs money. The template itself states the acta is drawn up “en una hoja de papel bond, impresa en ambos lados, a la que se le adhiere un timbre notarial de diez quetzales y un timbre fiscal de cincuenta centavos” — a sheet of bond paper printed on both sides, bearing a Q10 notarial stamp and a Q0.50 fiscal stamp. Notary fees are on top of that and are not tariffed here.
2. The employer does not sign it alone. The template names as appearing parties the workers or, where they exist, the representatives of the union or coalesced group, who swear “que aceptan tienen pleno conocimiento de los efectos de las modificaciones y/o cambio de condiciones de trabajo” — that they accept and fully understand the effects of the modifications or change of working conditions. Without that appearance, the acta does not do its job.
3. It is a real sworn declaration. The form warns of “las penas relativas al delito de PERJURIO regulado en el Artículo cuatrocientos cincuenta y nueve (459) del Código Penal, Decreto diecisiete guion setenta tres (17-73)” — the penalties for perjury under Article 459 of the Penal Code.

For modifications, annexes and repeals, the requirements sheet adds that you must attach in PDF “los cambios efectuados, así como el Reglamento Interior de Trabajo aprobado por la Inspección General de Trabajo” — the changes plus the already-approved rulebook — and warns that no suggested template exists for them: “el empleador debe faccionarlo como considere oportuno”.

Common errors

Penalties for non-compliance

The sanction is imposed by the Departmental Delegate of the General Labor Inspectorate, and the applicable schedule is Labor Code Article 272 in its current text, which was replaced in its entirety by Article 5 of Decree 7-2017, published in Diario de Centro América No. 90 on 6 April 2017.

Which subsection applies to the RIT. Articles 57 through 60 sit in Title Two of the Code, so Article 272’s subsections c), d) and e) — which are keyed to Titles Three, Five and Seven — cannot reach the RIT; and because Article 58 is a preceptive command rather than a prohibition, subsection b) does not apply either. What applies is the residual subsection g): “la violación a cualquier disposición preceptiva de este Código no prevista por los incisos anteriores”, sanctioned with “multa entre dos (2) y nueve (9) salarios mínimos mensuales, si se trata de empleadores” — a fine of two to nine monthly minimum wages for employers.

Where those quetzal figures come from. Article 272 reasons in monthly minimum wages in force for non-agricultural activities. The base is the monthly non-agricultural minimum wage for Economic Circumscription 1 (Guatemala department) in 2026, set by Gubernatorial Agreement 256-2025 at Q4,002.28. The Q250 bonificación incentivo (Decree 78-89) is not wages and is not part of that base — it is paid separately, on top of the minimum. So: 2 × Q4,002.28 = Q8,004.56 and 9 × Q4,002.28 = Q36,020.52. Treat it as a reference estimate — the exact amount is set by the Departmental Delegate within the range, and Economic Circumscription 2 has a different non-agricultural minimum (Q3,816.90), which scales the band down proportionally. Full table in Guatemala minimum wage 2026.

Three things almost nobody mentions about the fine

1. Half of it is waived if you already fixed the problem. Article 272 says so directly: “Si al momento del pago, el infractor manifiesta que corrigió la falta por la que fue sancionado, el Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social exonerará el cincuenta por ciento (50%) del monto de la multa, previa verificación del cumplimiento.” In plain terms: registering the RIT before you go and pay can cut the fine in half. The payment window is five days from notification of the resolution, unless a recurso de revocatoria is filed.

2. An unpaid sanction shuts you out of government contracting. The same article closes with a commercial consequence that is rarely explained: “Para obtener o mantener cualquier beneficio impositivo, arancelario, participar en licitaciones, cotizaciones o realizar contrataciones con el Estado, las empresas no podrán tener pendiente el pago de sanciones administrativas y la corrección del incumplimiento” of labor obligations. For a company that bids on state work, that can cost far more than the fine. IGT also runs a Registro de Faltas de Trabajo y Previsión Social listing individuals and companies whose sanctions have become final (administratively or in court); an entry is removed after one year without repeat offence, or on payment of the fine, or on correction of the violation that motivated it, and it is consulted through the Access to Public Information Law (Decree 57-2008).

3. You can appeal, and there is a clock. A recurso de revocatoria under Labor Code Article 275 lies against the Departmental Delegate’s resolution. Once that administrative route is exhausted, Article 415 — as replaced by Article 8 of Decree 7-2017 — allows you to bring the contentious administrative labor proceeding before the Labor and Social Welfare Court for the jurisdiction where the work is performed, within twenty (20) business days of being notified of the decision on the recurso de revocatoria. After that window the resolution is final.

Additional risk: a worker terminated for “internal rule violation” can win reinstatement plus back pay in labor court if they can show the RIT was not registered or not delivered to them.

Related procedures

• MINTRAB hub: All Ministry of Labor procedures
• RECIT — Employment Contract Registration
• Electronic Salary Book
• Electronic Labor Clearance
• Workplace Accident Registration
• Severance Calculation
• Foreign Worker Permit
• SAT — RTU Registration
• IGSS — Employer Registration (mandatory from the first worker, Acuerdo 1529)
• Mercantile Registry — Commercial License

Official links

• RERIT — Electronic Registry of Internal Work Rules
• Official trámite listing — service 1916 at tramites.gob.gt
• Official RECIT listing — service 1915 (so you don’t confuse them)
• MINTRAB — Main portal
• Labor Code (Decree 1441) — full text
• General Labor Inspectorate (IGT)
• Ministerial Agreement 540-2019 — RERIT Instructive (PDF)
• Ministerial Agreement 02-2020 — entry-into-force amendment (PDF)
• Ministerial Agreement 333-2020 — article 6 amendment (PDF)
• RERIT user manual (PDF)
• RERIT FAQ (PDF)
• RERIT requirements sheet (PDF)
• Template notarial acta for modifications (DOCX)

MINTRAB contact. The Ministry’s own site footer publishes: “7 avenida 3-33 Zona 9 - Edificio Torre Empresarial | PBX: 24222501/02/03 - Línea de Consultas o Denuncias Laborales: 1511”, with central and departmental offices open 7:00 to 15:00. That comes from an archived capture of the MINTRAB site; as of 2 September 2026 we still could not re-read it on the live site (the domain answers with a Cloudflare block), so confirm the hours by phone before showing up.

A RERIT-specific phone line. When the system launched, MINTRAB published a dedicated number alongside the call centre: “las personas que tengan dudas o consultas podrán comunicarse a los números de teléfono 1511 y 2422-2532”, and its official deck repeats “PREGUNTAS O DUDAS: 1. Call Center 1511 2. Inspección General de Trabajo 24222532”. These are the numbers exactly as the Ministry published them with the system launch; we could not re-confirm them against the live site in September 2026, so verify by phone before relying on them.

How we verified this page

Reviewed: 2 September 2026. What was re-read that day, and from where: