Responsabilidad solidaria de los representantes en el ámbito laboral frente a la Legislación Ecuatoriana

Abstract

The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the legal scope and implications derived from the coexistence between Article 36 of the Ecuadorian Labor Code and the 2023 reform to the Companies Act, regarding the joint liability of representatives of Ecuadorian employers in labor disputes. Both provisions are of a special nature, which has generated interpretative tensions. The joint liability of administrators has acquired particular importance in labor law, where the priority is to guarantee the effective protection of workers’ rights throughout the employment relationship. However, under corporate law, this figure is treated differently, progressively limiting the responsibility of administrators as a result of successive reforms to the Companies Act. This divergence creates a problem of normative coherence that directly affects legal interpretation, the security of legal representatives, and the application of labor protection by judges. This research adopts a doctrinal, normative, and jurisprudential analysis, framed within Norberto Bobbio’s general theory of law, in order to identify the type of antinomy involved and explore mechanisms of harmonization that may guarantee the protection of workers while safeguarding the principles of legal certainty inherent to corporate law.