A TOP court in Argentina on Tuesday overturned employment rules proposed by President Javier Milei that would make it easier to fire workers.

The ruling is a massive blow to the far-right leader’s efforts to ditch regulations that he claims have hampered the country’s struggling economy.

The appeals court already temporarily suspended the incoming president’s new regulations in early January after a legal challenge brought by the main union group, the General Labour Confederation.

The three-judge panel ruled that the regulations were unconstitutional, saying that President Milei’s government went beyond its authority to decree them and that they first need to be approved by Congress.

The latest ruling can be appealed before the Supreme Court. 

President Milei’s administration did not immediately say whether it would do so.

In December Mr Milei announced a decree that would make several changes to employment rules, like increasing job probation from three to eight months, reducing severance compensation and allowing the dismissal of workers who take part in blockades during protests.

Argentina’s controversial new president, who describes himself as a libertarian anarcho-capitalist, has promised to drastically reduce state spending to shore up a government budget deficit that he says is fuelling inflation, which finished 2023 at 211 per cent.

Since his inauguration on December 10, President Milei has devalued the country’s currency by 50 per cent, cut transport and energy subsidies and said his government would not renew contracts for more than 5,000 state employees hired before he took office.

The measures and proposals have sparked huge protests in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital.

Last week, the president faced a massive one-day general strike during which tens of thousands of workers took to the streets in protest.

The Argentinian congress was yesterday set to debate a raft of new measures put forward by Mr Milei including cuts to pensions and social security.