“If a $200 million decision is a problem for Piegari, which has 100 employees, imagine that for me, who has 3: It leaves me out of the game.”
The voice of Mariana CademartoriMajority shareholder (80%) of mandarin (the remaining 20% belongs to your partner, Sebastian Martino), a micro-SME that, after twelve years of successful initiative in the production and sale of clothing for children and young people, with a store in Junín and sales in other cities of Buenos Aires, is now facing existential risk: a judgment from the provincial labor system for an amount unpayable for the size of the company ($190 million) and an embargo ($330 million) that far exceeds its annual sales and is crippling its line of business..
Naranja Mandarina can only be saved if the Supreme Court of Buenos Aires accepts the appeal “in appeal” filed by the company’s lawyer before the start of the judicial mass. Otherwise, bankruptcy will be inevitable after a series of lawsuits and judgments and a new absurdity in labor law.
The only thing that can save the company is that the Supreme Court of Buenos Aires hears the case before the judicial fair. Otherwise, bankruptcy is inevitable.
In February 2022, after more than five years of working with branded products that he bought with company credit and sold in an exclusive area at prices he set himself, a dealer considered himself “fired” and filed an employment lawsuit the following month.
The company requested that the case be dealt with in the commercial courts, but the Buenos Aires judicial system classified it as a labor dispute.
“We started a year and a half after the company was founded. He already had a work area and started transporting goods under certain rules Infobae.
The total increased by 1,257% to $190 million, due to the application of the “Barrios ruling,” a controversial ruling that was imposed in the case of a traffic accident but was not The Labor Court applies criteria that could lead to the bankruptcy of Naranja Mandarina and any SME or micro-enterprise to which it applies.. According to the owner, the account also had a 6% interest rate and fines “which they paid in.”
If a company in the province of Buenos Aires wants to appeal to the provincial Supreme Court, it must deposit the amount of the decision with the court. It would be $190 million in liquid assets, an impossible sum for any micro-SME.
Naranja Mandarina’s lawyer filed an extraordinary appeal to allow the company to defend itself, the Junín Labor Court imposed an “accounting opinion” and, while preparations for the closing were underway, imposed an embargo on bank accounts worth more than $330 million.
The company’s lawyer then filed a “complaint” with the provincial court, but by seizing the accounts, the company crippled its business.
“You can’t get paid, you can’t pay suppliers or employees or taxes. All your checks come back, the trade line is broken. If the January fair catches us in this situation, we have to compete,” he explained. Cademartori. And that, he says when asked, despite the goodwill of the small company’s three employees and more than fifteen indirect employees (designers, cutters, etc.).
“I’ve already blocked for next season. I can’t make any promises”she explained, concerned but pleased by the support of the community, people in the community and even “at the provincial level” who “want to help.”
“The people and the workshops support us, but the reality is very worrying,” he explained. It is impossible for Naranja Mandarina to count on an embargo of $320 million, a figure that far exceeds not only profits but also annual sales.
Cademartori He recalled that in December 2024 the lawsuit proposed a settlement of the equivalent of $30,000, which they rejected because it would have meant accepting that the distributor was something he was not, namely an employee of the company.
The SME businesswoman bets that the visibility of the case will lead to the Buenos Aires CSJ amendment becoming a real working absurdity.
The reference to Piegari at the beginning of the text refers to the businessman’s case Alberto ChinkiesOwner of the restaurant in Buenos Aires, who in a recent interview revealed a labor court ruling that ordered him to pay more than $200 million in compensation for the dismissal of a worker who refused to return to his job as an “essential personnel” during the 2019 Covid pandemic. Chinkies fired him for what he considered a legitimate reason, but the employment judge at first instance ordered a precautionary seizure of $160 million, crippling the business of the company, which employs almost 100 people.
The number of claims for industrial accidents is increasing in contrast to the accident rate, which suggests that the driving force is not the occurrence of accidents, but the incentives of the judicial and expert system.
In labor courts, companies are also facing an “audit industry” for accidents and occupational risks that has grown significantly between 2021 and 2025: it is estimated that it will end at around 125,000 presentations this year, contrary to the decline in accident data. This suggests that the phenomenon is not due to the occurrence of accidents, but rather to the incentives of the judicial and expert system.
A recent report also states that the number of litigation cases increased by 5.1% in the first eleven months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. Buenos Aires Province concentrates 39% of litigation (more than its population), CABA is the second most litigated jurisdiction (8%), and Santa Fe surpassed its 2019 record with a 26% increase in litigation. A high rate in itself, but lower than that of Chubut, where the number of legal disputes increased by an incredible 44 percent year on year.
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