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A decree lets hospitals and schools hire their own workers under service contracts
Decree 162/2026, published in the Official Gazette on November 3, rewrites the powers of the heads of state-budgeted units: they may open accounts, sign contracts, seek financing, partner with other economic actors and pay their own workers for services, according to elTOQUE and state media.
The rule, published in Ordinary Official Gazette 91 on November 3, 2026, amends a single article, Article 38 of Decree 127/2025, but rewrites it entirely and lists eight powers for the head of a budgeted unit. Budgeted units include hospitals, schools, research centres and cultural institutions funded by the state budget.
Subsections b and c empower the head to open bank accounts and create cost centres in line with the unit's mission and assigned budget. Subsections d and e allow the signing of economic contracts and to "manage and access any lawful source of financing," wording that, according to elTOQUE, opens the door to donations, international cooperation or own revenue and is not limited to the state budget.
Subsection f authorises budgeted units to partner with "another economic actor," which would include private small and medium-sized enterprises, non-agricultural cooperatives or state companies, although the rule requires "prior approval and in accordance with the legislation in force" without specifying who grants it or by what procedure.
Subsection g lets the head sign economic service contracts with the unit's own workers, for professional activities, construction maintenance and similar tasks. The official newspaper Trabajadores specified that such work must be done "at times and under conditions that do not interfere with their normal duties" and that the income received "will not constitute wages," but the agreed payment for providing a service. The rule applies to central state administration bodies, national budgeted entities and local People's Power administrations.
elTOQUE noted that the decree is thin on operational detail: it sets no limits on the amounts of contracts with a unit's own workers, does not define how pay is determined, does not clarify whether that income will be taxed differently, and does not say how the arrangement will be kept from disguising wage payments outside the budgeted payroll. Nor does it specify whether an employee may refuse to sign that additional contract.
The text presents itself as the legal instrument of the "Economic and Social Transformations," the package of measures approved in 2026 that includes allowing workers in the budgeted sector to carry out professional activities and construction maintenance through economic contracts. At the end of October, according to CiberCuba, the government said 171 of the 176 measures already had their legal basis complete and that 215 regulations had been approved, while Díaz-Canel admitted that five measures remain unimplemented.
Sources: elTOQUE · Trabajadores · CiberCuba
Data updated: 2026-11-07T16:15:00.000Z