The Ministry of Labor issues Circular 075 of 2025 to prevent, identify, and address situations of workplace harassment, sexual harassment, and discrimination against transgender people, non-binary people, and people with non-hegemonic gender identities.

The Ministry of Labor urges institutions and companies to take urgent and appropriate measures to prevent, address, raise awareness, and guide workers on workplace harassment, sexual harassment, and the prevention of violence and discrimination against people who identify with non-hegemonic sexual orientations and gender identities, following these instructions:

1. Use the name and pronoun with which people identify, without requiring prior modification of their identity document, on ID cards, internal and external communications, correspondence, contracts, resolutions, minutes, employment certificates, and all types of official documents in general. Failure to do so constitutes discriminatory behavior based on gender identity and may be considered workplace harassment. 
2. Trans women cannot be required to present a military card in order to be hired or remain in their job. In the case of trans men, the requirement to present a military card cannot be an obstacle to entering employment.
3. Transgender people have the right to wear the uniform and clothing they consider appropriate for the gender identity with which they identify.
4. In cases where bathrooms are separated for men and women, transgender people have the right to use the bathroom that corresponds to the gender with which they identify.
5. It is considered discriminatory to make trans people, non-binary people, and people of non-hegemonic gender invisible or to hide them, through behaviors such as not including them in wellness activities, relegating them to confined spaces, not inviting them to work meetings, or removing them from the duties for which they were hired without valid justification.
6. It is reiterated that, under Law 1010 of 2006, making jokes or wisecracks about the gender identity of transgender, non-binary, and non-hegemonic gender individuals is considered workplace harassment. 
7. Establish inclusive and non-discriminatory selection processes, seeking to overcome gender stereotypes and prejudices about this population. To this end, it is recommended to: train the personnel involved in the process; evaluating processes to identify possible gender biases; reviewing job offers to ensure that job descriptions are not discriminatory, using inclusive language; and publishing vacancies in the Public Employment Service through the Provider Network.

Actions that companies must take for implementation: 

• Train the members of the Workplace Coexistence Committees.
• Include a differential approach that recognizes transgender, non-binary, and non-hegemonic gender individuals in the policies, protocols, and care pathways established against sexual harassment.
• Incorporate awareness programs on gender diversity. 
• Implement mechanisms for reporting acts of discrimination, allowing for effective care for victims in complaint procedures and action by the Workplace Coexistence Committee. 

Law 2540 of 2025 introduces arbitration for enforcement proceedings, with the aim of helping to relieve congestion in the judicial system.

Object: With the enactment of this law, executive proceedings may now be submitted to arbitration, provided that there is an arbitration agreement. The same law expressly provides that the executive arbitration process shall be institutional and shall apply to any type of enforcement, and in no case may ad hoc arbitration be used. The arbitration award shall be rendered in accordance with the law. Consequently, any agreement referring to an award in equity or technical award shall be deemed not to have been written.

Similarly, the enforcement of domestic arbitral awards may be submitted to the same arbitral tribunal, except for those rendered in international arbitrations based in Colombia, while the enforcement of arbitral awards against public entities or individuals exercising administrative functions may not be brought before the same arbitrators who rendered them.

Characteristics of the arbitration agreement: It is a legal transaction whereby the parties undertake to submit to arbitration the enforcement of enforceable titles and disputes arising from the underlying transaction of the title affected by the agreement. This may consist of a commitment or an arbitration clause and may not form part of a security that is invoked as an enforceable title, in which case it must necessarily be recorded in a commitment set out in a document attached to or separate from it.

Procedure: Arbitration centers may incorporate into their regulations the rules of procedure for executive arbitration and for the implementation of preliminary precautionary measures, respecting the minimum guarantees of due process.

An extraordinary appeal for annulment may be filed against the executive arbitration award.

Term: If the arbitration agreement does not establish the duration of the proceedings, they shall last up to twelve (12) months, counted from the issuance of the order setting the dispute, the decree of evidence, and the approval of the settlement of the claim.

Fees: The Ministry of Justice and Law shall regulate the fees of the executing arbitrators, those of preliminary precautionary measures, the arbitrators executing the awards, and the administrative expenses corresponding to the center.

Consumer protection measures: This law not only regulates the executive arbitration process, but also introduces the following measures to protect consumer rights:

• In contracts entered into with consumers that stipulate an arbitration agreement or in relation to which arbitration is agreed upon, the consumer must be provided with clear, truthful, sufficient, timely, verifiable, understandable, accurate, and appropriate information on the effects and scope of the arbitration agreement and the executive arbitration process.
• In the event of non-compliance with this obligation by the entity, the consumer shall not be bound by the arbitration agreement, unless he or she decides to resort to arbitration or, having been summoned to an arbitral tribunal, does not invoke the ineffectiveness of the agreement. In addition, financial institutions are liable to sanctions by Financial Superintendency in the event of non-compliance. 
• Likewise, the consumer’s acceptance of the arbitration agreement must be specified in the credit application independently and may not be a requirement or condition for the granting or disbursement of the credit, nor may it subject decisions on credit conditions to acceptance or non-acceptance of the arbitration agreement. 
• Consequently, the mere acceptance of the terms and conditions in consumer relations shall not be considered an arbitration agreement. This must be express, clear, and reflect the free and informed will of the consumer.
• In the context of the arbitration process, the inalienable nature of consumer rights must be observed, which means that no clause of the arbitration agreement or provision of this procedure may be interpreted to the detriment of those rights.

Right of withdrawal from the arbitration agreement: In contracts entered into with consumers of financial services through adhesion contracts or general conditions that include an arbitration agreement, the consumer’s right of withdrawal from said agreement shall be understood to be incorporated, which must be exercised within 60 days following the disbursement of the credit or the moment when the obligations in favor of the consumer began to be fulfilled, unless this right is expressly included in the arbitration agreement, in which case there shall be no time limit for its exercise and it may be exercised until the expiration of the term for raising objections on the merits in the respective arbitration proceedings.

General Prohibitions: 

• The procedures regulated in this law, as they involve enforcement with precautionary measures, shall be confidential.

• Entities supervised by the Financial Superintendency, electronic payment associations and networks, and legal or natural persons whose main activity is to grant money loans may not participate in any capacity in the creation, development, or operation of for-profit or non-profit legal entities that create arbitration centers to administer the executive arbitration process.

Social enforcement arbitration. Arbitration centers shall promote social enforcement arbitration and facilitate access to the free provision of this type of arbitration service for small claims, without prejudice to each center’s ability to provide the service for larger amounts.

Validity. This law shall come into force six (6) months after its enactment, i.e., on February 26, 2026.