What is the REL?
The Registro Electrónico Laboral (REL) is the Chilean Labour Directorate’s digital platform for storing labour documentation. Employers must register employment contracts and provide information about contract modifications, terminations, the electronic payroll book (Libro de Remuneraciones), and joint hygiene/safety and training committees. This digital register supports inspections, mediations and the ratification of settlement agreements (finiquitos), and provides the Labour Directorate with up‑to‑date data on compliance. For example, when a new employment contract is signed, the employer must register it on the DT website within fifteen working days; failing to do so constitutes a legal breach and may lead to sanctions. Similar deadlines apply to contract modifications (15 working days) and terminations, which must be recorded within 3 to 30 days depending on the reason for the termination.
Why automate the REL?
Manual registration through the DT portal can be time‑consuming and error‑prone, and employers who miss the legal deadlines may be fined. Experts note that failing to register documents within the required time can result in fines ranging from 6 to 60 UTM per infringement. Furthermore, the REL is mandatory for every employer with at least one employment contract; even small businesses cannot opt out. Automation reduces the risk of missing deadlines and helps avoid penalties.
Legale.io – complete automation of the REL in Chile
Legale.io integrates directly with the Chilean REL to automate the creation, submission and tracking of employment documents. When a contract, annex or termination is generated in Legale.io, the system uses Document Intelligence to extract key information and populates the REL record automatically. Smart workflows ensure that each document is signed with an advanced electronic signature and then submitted to the Labour Directorate within the legal timeframe. This eliminates manual data entry and ensures compliance with the 15‑day deadline for contracts and annexes and the shorter deadlines for terminations. By keeping a full audit trail and using encryption, Legale.io provides secure storage and facilitates future audits or inspections.
Benefits for employers and HR teams
- Avoid fines and legal exposure: Legale.io automatically registers each document on the REL within the required time, preventing penalties of up to 60 UTM per infraction. Reminders and monitoring tools warn HR teams when a registration deadline is approaching.
- Reduce administrative workload: Automation replaces manual data entry and eliminates repeated log‑ins to the DT portal. Data captured once in Legale.io is reused across forms, reducing errors and speeding up processing.
- Ensure completeness and accuracy: Smart forms validate that all mandatory fields are completed—such as the parties’ details, remuneration amounts and job descriptions—so that registrations are accepted by the REL on the first submission.
- Centralised documentation: Contracts, annexes, termination records and payroll books are stored alongside REL confirmations in Legale.io. This digital archive ensures that documents are always available for audits, mediations or dispute resolution and supports statistical reporting.
- Peace of mind: By automating REL filings, employers can focus on strategic HR tasks, confident that their legal obligations are met and that their organisation remains compliant with Chilean labour law.
Legale.io is thus a unique partner for organisations operating in Chile: it is fully integrated with the government’s Electronic Labor Registry, automates every step—from document creation to REL submission—and provides the control and traceability needed to stay compliant and avoid fines.
