Argentina severance pay calculator: dismissal, notice and aguinaldo

Hiring, managing or leaving a job in Argentina? Ending a contract there works differently from at-will employment: a dismissal without cause triggers a statutory payment tied to years of service, plus notice and a pro-rata half-year bonus called the aguinaldo.

Enter the monthly pay, the dates and how the job ends. You get each payment itemised, with the arithmetic shown using your own figures and the article 245 rule as the March 2026 labour reform left it. Everything is worked out in Argentine pesos (ARS), in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.

There are two layers. The first applies whenever someone leaves, even by resigning: pay for the days worked in the month, holiday not yet taken, and the aguinaldo for the half-year in progress. Argentines call this the final settlement.

The second layer exists only if the employer dismisses without cause. Then you add notice pay (one month up to five years of service, two months beyond), the days left in the month, and seniority severance: one month of pay for each year of service, counting a fraction over three months as a full year, with a floor of one month. Under the 2026 reform that pay is capped at three times the average pay in the sector’s collective agreement, but never below 67% of the employee’s own pay.

Argentine terms in plain English

• Aguinaldo, or SAC (sueldo anual complementario): half a month’s pay in June and another half in December, in effect a 13th-month bonus paid in two instalments. When someone leaves, the part of the half-year worked is paid.
• Preaviso: notice. If the employer does not give written notice, it pays the notice period in cash.
• Integración del mes de despido: the days left to complete the month in which the dismissal happens.
• Indemnización por antigüedad: the main severance payment, from article 245 of the Employment Contract Law (LCT). It exists only on dismissal without cause.
• Convenio colectivo: the sector-wide collective agreement. The law uses its average pay to cap the severance base.

Why a pre-2026 calculator gives a different number

Law 27,802 on Labour Modernisation was published in the Official Gazette on 6 March 2026 and has applied since that day. It rewrote article 245. The severance base is now the best normal, regular monthly pay of the last year, leaving out the aguinaldo, holiday pay and bonuses not paid monthly. The cap is three times the average pay under the collective agreement, but it can never take the base below 67% of the employee’s regular pay, and severance is never less than one month. Many online calculators still use the old text.

What foreign employers and remote hires often miss

• Holiday is paid at one twenty-fifth of monthly pay per day, not one thirtieth.
• Seniority is counted at 31 December of the year of departure to find the holiday entitlement, not at the exit date.
• Notice is one month up to five years of service and two months beyond: two steps, not a sliding scale.
• The aguinaldo is worked out on the best pay of the half-year, not the last one, and it also applies to holiday, notice and integration pay.
• A resignation or a dismissal for just cause pays none of the severance or notice items.
• Amounts are in pesos. Any conversion to dollars or euros is up to you.

Common mistakes

• Counting a fraction of exactly three months as a year: it has to be more than three.
• Paying one month’s notice after the fifth year of service.
• Basing severance on pay that includes the aguinaldo or annual bonuses.
• Forgetting the one-month minimum on short contracts dismissed without cause.
• Leaving out the days left in the month when no notice was given.

Limits of this calculator

• The reform also touches articles 156, 231, 232 and 233, but the text consulted does not substantially rewrite them: their classic rules are kept. Check if your case depends on them.
• It does not cover trial periods, unregistered work, discriminatory dismissal or penalty fines.
• Collective agreements can improve these minimums. This calculator applies the statute.
• Aguinaldo on holiday and notice is included as one twelfth; some cases are disputed.
• No interest, indexation, legal fees or tax. Provinces and special regimes (domestic work, construction, agriculture) have their own rules.

Notice

This is an estimate, not legal advice, and it does not replace an Argentine labour lawyer. Before signing a settlement or sending a telegram, check the figures.