Bill 531.

Summary.

The bill aims to eliminate restrictions and forms of discrimination connected with visible temporary or permanent body tattoos in the hiring of personnel and public servants. Its provisions would apply to every public entity in the country, including autonomous and semi autonomous entities, mixed enterprises, municipal governments, community boards and security services.

Public entities would be prohibited from refusing to hire new personnel because they have temporary or permanent tattoos, whether black or another color. For the same reason, an entity could not prevent a person from entering for training, participation or the completion of administrative procedures. The prohibition thus covers hiring decisions as well as access to those activities within public institutions.

The text establishes an exception: it prohibits hiring people whose tattoos contain symbols or images that promote hate speech, violence, or racial, religious or ethnic discrimination, or that incite crime or refer to criminal or terrorist organizations. It also allows a public entity to reserve its hiring decision when tattoos are located on the face, neck or ears. This discretion operates independently of the prohibition concerning the content of tattoos.

A public servant who considers that they have been discriminated against or rejected on grounds covered by the bill must pursue the administrative remedies of their public entity and those applicable under Law 38 of 2000 (Ley 38 de 2000). If a breach is established, each entity’s Human Resources Directorate (Dirección de Recursos Humanos) would proceed against the offending official, for whom the text prescribes dismissal from office.

The bill calls for the correction of normative and regulatory provisions, internal circulars and institutional manuals that conflict with its provisions. Each public entity would have one (1) calendar year to incorporate the measure internally. It sets entry into force for the day after promulgation. As a transitional provision, it assigns the Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo) responsibility for receiving and processing complaints of alleged noncompliance, both during the institutional adjustment period and when a citizen considers that an application for public office was rejected because of their tattoos.

The subject matter involves the Ombudsman’s Office and each public entity’s Human Resources Directorate, together with Law 38 of 2000 in relation to administrative proceedings. It could concern the covered state entities, applicants for public positions, public servants and people entering those entities for training, participation or administrative procedures.