Bárbara
Zlatar

Bárbara joined Cariola in 2011 and was named partner in 2022. She currently heads the firm’s Labor, Social Security and Immigration practice.

She leads complex collective bargaining and union relations for large employers in the mining, retail and food and beverage sectors, provides day-to-day and strategic employment advice, and heads the firm’s immigration and international employment practice.

She has broad, well-recognized experience in labor and social security law, advising Chilean and foreign clients across a wide range of industries. Her practice spans day-to-day corporate employment advice as well as specific projects, including: designing and implementing compensation structures for senior executives, stock option plans, RSUs and other incentives; internal investigations triggered by complaints; drafting and rolling out internal policies; preventive audits and due diligence; training programs; senior executive and mass terminations; subcontracting and outsourcing arrangements; and onboarding companies looking to establish operations in Chile.

She is particularly experienced in collective labor matters and has played a leading role in collective bargaining for clients in a wide variety of industries, including food, mining and retail, among many others. She has an extensive experience in highly complex labor litigation, whether because of the issues at stake, the amounts in dispute, or their internal or external impact.

She represents large and mid-sized companies before the labor courts and the Department of Labor in cases that often affect entire corporate groups and can set precedent. She designs defense strategies to the highest technical and ethical standards, focused on winning in court while protecting the long-term sustainability of the organization.

She also conducts internal workplace investigations, including complaints of workplace harassment, sexual harassment and discrimination.

Bárbara also leads the firm’s immigration group, handling work permits, visas, permanent residence and naturalization applications, among other matters. 

• Supported the labor relations management team at the table during collective bargaining for the world’s largest copper producer, which resulted in the most expensive collective agreement in the industry. 
• Highly complex internal investigations for clients in the food, collections and retail sectors. 
• Advised on the labor aspects of a transaction involving the port terminal and logistics businesses of a Chilean multinational foreign trade services company, covering ten terminals in six countries across the Americas and its entire land logistics business. 
• Advised a global leader in container manufacturing and shipping on the labor aspects of winding down its operations in Chile, including the termination of its entire local workforce. 
• Advised the world’s leading beverage company on a global restructuring that involved eliminating certain positions and reassigning others both within and outside Chile. 
• Designed the defense strategy for one of Chile’s leading dairy companies in a lawsuit over how the 40-Hour Law applies to a lunch break contractually counted as working time. The issue is a novel one, and the outcome will set a benchmark for the industry. 
• Represented the Chilean subsidiary of a global credit information company before the Labor Directorate in a dispute pitting third-party data protection against employee rights, arising from a security system used for remote work.  
• Defending the Chilean branch of a Canadian mining company against a fundamental-rights and wrongful dismissal claim exceeding US$1 million brought by its former country manager. 

• Universidad de Los Andes, Law School, 2004.
• Diploma in oral litigation, Universidad Finis Terrae, 2006.
• Diploma in Labor Law and Social Security, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2010.

Publications and Speaking Engagements

• “El promedio que le falta a las 40 horas” (“What the 40-Hour Law Is Missing: Averaging”), letter to the editor, Diario Constitucional (August 5, 2026).
• “Reforma previsional: el segundo tramo llega a la planilla” (“Pension Reform: The Second Phase Hits Payroll”), op-ed, Estado Diario (August 4, 2026).
• Co-author, with Mauricio Yudin, of “Colisión entre facultades de supervigilancia del empleador y derecho a la intimidad de los trabajadores en el teletrabajo: ¿una ampliación del criterio de proporcionalidad?” (“Employer Monitoring vs. Employee Privacy in Remote Work: Is the Proportionality Test Expanding?”), Diario Constitucional (April 26, 2026).
• Contributor to L&E Global’s annual “Looking Ahead” report on Chile.
• Speaker, L&E Global webinar “2025 Looking Ahead in Chile and Colombia” (March 2025).
• Speaker, L&E Global webinar “2024 Looking Ahead in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia & Mexico” (March 2024).
• Guest on Fundación Pro Bono’s podcast “Compliance laboral: los retos de la nueva Ley Karin” (“Labor Compliance: The Challenges of the New Karin Law”) (June 2024).
• Panelist at the annual event of De la Vega & Martínez Rojas (DM Abogados) on workplace sexual harassment and its challenges in Latin America.

Professional Activities

• Member of the Quality Committee of L&E Global, the international employment law alliance in which Cariola is the Chilean member firm.
• Member of the Committee of Women Experts of the Chilean Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados de Chile).
• Member of the Advisory Board of Fundación Pro Bono.
• Member of the ML Latin American Women Lawyer Network.
• Featured labor law expert in Diario Financiero’s “Mujeres en Acción” guide.

Recognition

• Chambers and Partners — Labour & Employment, Chile, Band 4 (ranked since 2023; Latin America 2027 edition).
• Best Lawyers — Labor and Employment Law (2022–2027) and Immigration Law.
• The Legal 500 — Next Generation Partner, Labour and Employment (2022–2027); Rising Star (2019–2021).
• Leading Lawyers — Best Corporate Immigration and Visas Lawyer in Chile Under 45 (2025).
• Fundación Pro Bono — Outstanding Partner of the Year for her contribution to pro bono legal work (2024).