Continuing with our series on labor legislation in Mexico that began with Employment Termination in Mexico, it’s now time to explore, without reservation, the current obligations and prohibitions for both workers and employers under the Federal Labor Law.
This entry complements the dynamics of labor relations in our country and can serve as a spur to avoid or, in turn, plan litigation in labor courts. All this, of course, without replacing the recommendation to go to a Mexican lawyer to receive advice for the specific case.
Without further ado, let’s begin:
List of Contents
- I.- Employers’ Obligations
- II.- Prohibitions For Employers
- III.- Obligations of Employees
- IV.- Prohibitions For Employees
I.- Employers’ Obligations
Employers are obliged to:
1.- Comply with the provisions of the labor regulations applicable to their companies or establishments.
2.- Pay workers their wages and compensation following the regulations in force in the company or establishment.
3.- Provide workers with the tools, instruments, and materials necessary for carrying out the work promptly, providing them with good quality, in good condition, and replacing them as soon as they cease to be efficient, provided that the workers have not agreed to use their own tools.
4.- Provide a safe place to store the workers’ work tools and instruments, provided that they must remain where they provide the services, and it’s not lawful for the employer to retain them as compensation, guarantee, or any other form. The registration of work tools or instruments must be carried out whenever the worker requests it.
5.- Maintain sufficient seats or chairs available to workers in commercial houses, offices, hotels, restaurants, and other similar work centers.
6.- Show due consideration to workers, refraining from mistreatment in words or actions.
7.- Issue every 15 days, at the request of workers, a written statement of the number of days worked and the salary received.
8.- Issue a written statement regarding his services to the worker who requests it or leaves the company within the term of 3 days.
9.- Grant workers the necessary time to exercise their vote in popular elections, the processes of revocation of mandate, and to fulfill the services of juries, electoral, and census when these activities must be fulfilled within their working hours.
10.- Allow workers to miss work to carry out an accidental or permanent assignment from their union or the state, provided that they give due notice and that the number of workers assigned is not such as to harm the smooth running of the establishment. The lost time may be deducted from the worker unless he compensates for it with equal time of effective work.
When the commission is permanent, the worker or workers may return to the position they occupied, retaining all their rights, provided that they return to their job within the term of 6 years. The substitutes shall be considered temporary, being considered as permanent after 6 years.
11.- Inform the union holding the collective contract and the workers of the immediately lower category of the newly created positions, the permanent and temporary vacancies that must be filled.
12.- Establish and maintain schools in accordance with the provisions of the laws and the Ministry of Public Education.
13.- Collaborate with the labor and education authorities in accordance with the laws and regulations to achieve the workers’ literacy.
14.- When they employ more than 100 and less than 1000 workers, they must bear the expenses necessary to support the technical, industrial, or practical studies decently, in special centers, national or foreign, of one of their workers or one of their children, designated in consideration of their aptitudes, qualities, and dedication, by the workers themselves and the employer.
When they have more than 1000 workers in their service, they must support 3 scholarship holders under the conditions indicated. The employer may only cancel the scholarship if the scholarship holder fails within a year or displays bad behavior; in these cases, another shall replace him. Scholarship holders who have completed their studies must provide their services to the employer who has awarded them a scholarship for at least one year.
15.- Provide training and instruction to their workers.
16.- Install and operate factories, workshops, offices, premises, and other places where work must be carried out in accordance with the provisions established in the regulations and the official Mexican standards on safety, health, and the work environment to prevent accidents and occupational diseases. They must also adopt the preventive and corrective measures the labor authority determines.
17.- Have adequate facilities in work centers with more than 50 workers to access and develop activities for people with disabilities.
18.- Comply with the regulations and official Mexican standards on safety, health, and the work environment, as well as have the medications and healing materials essential at all times to provide timely and effective first aid.
19.- Visibly post and disseminate in the places where work is performed, the relevant provisions of the regulations and official Mexican standards on safety, health, and work environment, as well as the full text of the collective bargaining agreement(s) that govern the company.
20.- Provide their workers with the prophylactic medications determined by the health authority in places where tropical or endemic diseases exist or when epidemics are dangerous.
21.- Comply with the provisions established by the competent authority in the event of a health emergency, as well as provide their workers with the elements indicated by said authority to prevent diseases in the event of a declaration of a health emergency.
22.- Reserve, when the fixed population of a rural work center exceeds 200 inhabitants, a land area of no less than 5,000 square meters for the establishment of public markets, buildings for municipal services, and recreational centers, provided that said work center is at a distance of no less than 5 kilometers from the nearest population.
23.- Provide unions, if they request it, in rural work centers a space unoccupied to set up their offices, charging the corresponding rent. If there is no premises in the indicated conditions, any of those assigned for workers’ accommodation may be used for this purpose.
24.- Make the deductions requested by the unions from the ordinary union dues.
25.- Make the deductions from the dues for the constitution and promotion of cooperative societies and savings banks.
26.- Make the deductions and payments corresponding to alimony.
27.- Allow the inspection and surveillance carried out by the labor authorities in their establishment to verify compliance with labor standards and provide them with the reports that are indispensable for this purpose when requested. Employers may require inspectors or commissioners to show them their credentials and inform them of the instructions they have.
28.- Contribute to promoting cultural activities and sports among their workers and provide them with indispensable equipment and supplies.
29.- Make deductions for the purpose of paying the discounts in order of priority, first to the Institute of the National Fund for Workers’ Consumption and then to other institutions.
30.- Affiliate the workplace to the Institute of the National Fund for Workers’ Consumption so that workers can be eligible for the credit provided by said entity.
31.- Provide pregnant women with the protection established by the regulations.
32.- Grant paternity leave of 5 working days with pay to male workers for the birth of their children and similarly in the case of the adoption of an infant.
33.- Participate in the integration and operation of the committees that must be formed in each work center.
34.- Grant unpaid leave to workers declared missing with a Special Declaration of Absence.
35.- Grant the appropriate facilities to workers regarding licenses issued by the Mexican Social Security Institute.
36.- Provide their workers free of charge with a printed copy of the initial collective labor contract or its revision within 15 days after said contract is filed with the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration; this obligation may be accredited with the signature of receipt of the worker.
37.- Implement, in agreement with the workers, a protocol to prevent discrimination based on gender and address cases of violence and sexual harassment, as well as eradicate forced and child labor.
38. Post and distribute in the busiest workplace, placing the exact text of the call and other documents requested by the Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration to develop the consultation procedure.
39.- Post in the busiest workplace places the call requested by the union when the workers are consulted on the content of the initial collective labor contract or the revision agreement.
II.- Prohibitions For Employers
Employers or their representatives are prohibited from:
1.- Refusing to accept workers for ethnic or national origin, gender, age, disability, social status, health conditions, religion, opinions, sexual preferences, marital status, or any other criterion that may give rise to a discriminatory act.
2.- Requiring workers to buy their consumer goods in a store or a specific place.
3.- Demanding or accepting money from workers as a reward for being admitted to work or for any other reason relating to work conditions.
4.- Forcing workers by coercion or any other means to join or withdraw from the union or group to which they belong or to vote for a certain candidate, as well as any act or omission that violates their right to decide who should represent them in collective bargaining.
5.- Intervening in any way in the internal regime of the union, preventing its formation or the development of union activity through implicit or explicit reprisals against workers.
6.- Carrying out or authorizing collections or subscriptions in establishments and workplaces.
7.- Carrying out any act restricting the rights granted to workers by law.
8.- Carrying out political or religious propaganda within the establishment.
9.- Using the system of indexing workers who leave or are separated from work so they are not given another job.
10.- Carrying weapons inside establishments located within towns.
11.- Presenting themselves at establishments in a state of intoxication or under the influence of a narcotic or narcotic drug.
12.- Carrying out acts of harassment and/or sexual harassment against any person in the workplace.
13.- Allowing or tolerating acts of harassment and/or sexual harassment in the workplace.
14.- Require the presentation of medical certificates of non-pregnancy for admission, permanence, or promotion in employment.
15.- Dismiss a worker or coerce her directly or indirectly to resign due to being pregnant, a change in marital status, or having to care for minor children.
16.- Terminate or terminate the employment relationship of a worker with the status of missing person and a Special Declaration of Absence.
17.- Carry out any act tending to exercise control over the union to which their workers belong.
III.- Obligations of Employees
The following are the obligations of employees:
1.- Comply with the provisions of the work regulations that apply to them.
2.- Observe the provisions contained in the internal work regulations and the Mexican official standards on safety, health, and the work environment, as well as those indicated by the employers for their safety and protection.
3.- Perform the service under the direction of the employer or his representative, to whose authority they shall be subordinate in all matters concerning work.
4.- Execute the work with the appropriate intensity, care, and diligence and in the manner, time, and place agreed upon.
5.- Immediately notify the employer, except for fortuitous events or force majeure, of the justified causes that prevent them from attending work.
6.- Return the employer any unused materials and keep in good condition the instruments and tools that he has given them for work, not being responsible for the deterioration caused by the use of these objects or for that caused by chance, force majeure, or by poor quality or defective construction.
7.- Observe good customs during service.
8.- Assist at any time when it is needed when an accident or imminent risk endangers the persons or interests of the employer or their co-workers.
9.- Submit to the medical examinations provided for in the internal work regulations and other regulations in force in the company or establishment to verify that they do not have any work-related disability or contagious or incurable disease.
10.- Inform the employer of any contagious diseases they suffer from as soon as they become aware of them.
11.- Inform the employer or his representative of any deficiencies they notice to avoid damage or harm to the interests and lives of their co-workers or employers.
12.- Scrupulously guard the technical, commercial, and manufacturing secrets of the products in whose production they contribute directly or indirectly, or of which they know due to the work they perform, as well as confidential administrative matters, the disclosure of which may cause harm to the company.
IV.- Prohibitions For Employees
Employees are prohibited from:
1.- Performing any act that may endanger their own safety, that of their co-workers or third parties, and that of the establishments or places where work is performed.
2.- Missing work without justified cause or without permission from the employer.
3.- Removing work tools or raw or processed materials from the company or establishment.
4.- Showing up for work in a state of intoxication.
5.- Showing up for work under the influence of any narcotic or intoxicating drug unless there is a medical prescription. Before starting work, the worker must inform the employer of the fact and present the prescription signed by the doctor.
6.- Carrying weapons of any kind during working hours unless the nature of the work requires it. This provision does not apply to sharp objects or sharp-cutting objects that are part of the tools or implements of the work.
7.- Suspending work without the employer’s authorization.
8.- Making collections in the establishment or workplace.
9.- Using the tools and implements provided by the employer for purposes other than those for which they are intended.
10.- Making any kind of propaganda during work hours within the establishment.
11.- Sexually harassing any person or performing immoral acts in the workplace.
Staff
beLegal abogados S.C
(656) 271-41-43.