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employed by Decentralized entities or by the Municipality or Departments shall be ruled by a specialAct. Therefore, if an employee enjoys notorious independence in view of his/her position as companyrepresentative, pay level, nature of work and technical ability, such administrators, he/she is notsubject to the Labor Code, in which case the general regulations of the Civil Code would apply.Furthermore, Article 3 of the Code sets forth that the rights recognized by such code may not bewaived, limited, renounced, or transacted upon in any way. The Code is inspired by the principlescontained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the American Bill of Rights and remaininginternational labor conventions ratified by Paraguay. Paraguay has also ratified numerousInternational Labor Organization Agreements such as the Regulation for Safety, Hygiene, Convenienceand Medicine in the Workplace.The Government sets minimum daily wages and monthly salaries according to the type of work.Current levels set for unskilled labor amount to Gs. 70.155, per day and Gs. 1.824.055, per month,which at the current exchange rate amount to USD 15,59 and USD 405,35 respectively.Except for special cases mentioned in the Labor Code, ordinary working hours shall not exceed 8 hoursper day or 48 hours per week for dayshift; 7 hours per day and 42 hours per week for nightshift.There is no Unemployment Insurance in Paraguay. The Social Security Act and Regulations rule SocialSecurity. The Social Security Institute [Instituto de Previsión Social] is an autonomous entity with legalcapacity created by Decree-Act N° 17071/1943, in charge of directing and administrating socialsecurity. It is funded with contributions from employers and workers, as well by its own sources; 9% isdeducted from employees’ base salary to be paid to IPS, and 14.50% contributed on employee basesalary by employer (employer is also obliged to pay 1% to the National Professional Promotion Serviceand an additional 1% to the Ministry of Health). Social security covers risks of non-professionalsickness, maternity, occupational accidents and illness, handicapped conditions, old age and death ofsalaried workers in the country.The Constitution and the Act guarantee labor organizations. The role of unions and federations is stillvery limited. The great majority of these organizations are new and lack the experience and standingof higher level organizations. However, they do participate in the defense of worker’s interests. Theperception of the organizations’ actual ability to represent the sector is another problem. Lack oftradition of association for the representation and defense of interest is an additional factor in thelimited representation of unions and federations. Employers’ unions can be formed with a minimum ofthree members. Workers’ unions require a minimum of 20 members for company unions, 30 for tradeunions and 300 for industrial unions. The recordal of a Union gives it full legal status.The recordal of an individual labor contract is not compulsory, except in the case of apprentices.10. REPRESENTATION, AGENCY AND DISTRIBUTION ACT16Berkemeyer Attorneys and Counselors | Asunción - Paraguay