Did you know?
Since 1970, Mexico had not addressed the issue of working conditions, one of them being the working day, which is currently in the public eye.
We are one step away from the approval of the reform on the reduction of the working day, which will be 40 hours per week and two days off, which will have a significant impact on several branches within the business sector.
It is a fact that this reform will be approved, it was intended to be approved before the end of 2024, but President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, on Tuesday, December 3, announced that the reform of the reduction of the working day will begin to be discussed in early 2025, noting that they will meet in working tables.
Therefore, it is a good time for you to approach a professional in the area, so that he/she can advise you correctly and thus avoid penalties once the reform comes into force.
This reform has not gone down well with businessmen, since, for example, chains such as supermarkets, production lines, department stores, to mention a few, are not prepared for these changes, but they will have to adapt, since it will be mandatory.
The biggest challenge will be that if they do not have enough personnel, in order to accommodate them according to the reform guidelines, they will have to hire more, since previously, for every 06 working days, workers were entitled to 01 paid leave per week, as well as a maximum of 48 working hours per week.
Therefore, once approved, the articles of the Federal Labor Law would be reformed, in its chapters on Working Hours and Rest Days, mainly articles 61, 63, 64 and 69, which at the moment are as follows:
Article 61. The maximum duration of the workday shall be: eight hours during the day, seven hours at night and seven and a half hours mixed.
Article 63. During the continuous working day, the worker shall be granted a break of at least half an hour.
Article 64. When the worker is unable to leave the place where he/she renders his/her services during rest or meal hours, the corresponding time shall be computed as effective time of the working day.
Article 69. For every six days of work, the employee shall have at least one day off with full pay.
Therefore, the majority of these two chapters of the Federal Labor Law, Workday and Rest Days, but especially these articles, will change their form and criteria with the guidelines of the reform.
This reform will enter into force gradually, so that it does not impact companies so much in terms of the 40 hours of work, the 02 two days of rest per week will enter into force when the reform is tested in the terms indicated therein.
The reform brings with it several backgrounds, one of which is overtime, its payment and overtime surplus.
The implication of overtime was already a big problem for both parties.
As for the workers with excessive working hours, they were not paid supplements or were not paid at all.
And for employers when, in a labor lawsuit, when it is demanded as a benefit and there is no way to prove it, remembering that the burden of proof for the first 09 hours of weekly overtime corresponds to the employer.
This was already a major problem in society, and now with the working day reform, if not adequately addressed, it will become a very serious social contingent.
That is why legislators have taken action on the matter, some in a very extreme way, remembering that this year 2024, there was another reform on human trafficking or labor exploitation, in this area a limit was established in Article 66 of the Federal Labor Law, which states that the 09 nine hours of overtime, that are continuous and permanent, can be considered as labor exploitation, if they do not justify the character of overtime, that is to say, it is no longer enough to prove the payment of the same only, since it is not only a labor issue, but also the possible constitution of a crime.
This will provoke labor lawsuits, that when more than 09 hours of overtime per week are demanded, the judges may give a hearing to the Prosecutor, because it is a possible crime, being this more serious than the payment of overtime fines, and there is already talk of deprivation of liberty in case the excess of overtime is not accredited, before a competent authority.
But all is not lost, since the labor law is also clear that after the 09 hours of overtime demanded, it will be the worker who will have the burden of proof after 10 hours of overtime per week.
For example:
If it is a labor lawsuit, the worker claims 18 hours of overtime per week, which was very common, the first 09 nine hours is for the employer to prove that he did not work them or that he was paid for them, and the other 09 nine hours is for the worker to prove that he did work them and that he was not paid for them.
Everything indicates that the legislator's objective is to put an end to illegal overtime.
By virtue of the fact that some employers do not allow their workers to take their full meals, because they ask them for work activities, within their rest schedule, some also do not allow them to leave the source of work, which is also considered as overtime, since the right of workers is to eat and/or rest outside the source of work, without being under the subordination of the employer.
In these cases, it is not optional to be paid and not to rest or eat, since this would violate the psychosocial norm, because the body and mind need rest and distraction, it is an inalienable right.
Moving on to another idea, one of the great challenges for the business sector is for the security sector, since although the reform of the reduction of working hours contemplates that the 40-hour workweek can be dispersed in any way that suits, it is also true that the 24 x 48-hour workdays are also schedules that exceed the working day, for example:
The worker enters at 07:00 hours on Monday and the same ends at 07:00 hours on Tuesday, there are 24 hours, it is true that he would have to rest 48 hours and would have to return to work on Thursday at 07:00 hours concluding the workday on Friday at 07:00 hours, there are the 48 hours the law allows, but once the reform of the 40 hours is approved, even if they go consecutively of 02 hours less per year, from the first year of approval there are already two hours less per week, they would have to enter even 23 hours per 50 hours? This opens a gap, which has to be covered with another person, or else continue with the same scheme but paying the overtime that does not exceed 9 hours per week.
The reality is that there may be a simpler solution here, but will it be affordable for security companies to pay so much in overtime? That is a subject we can discuss in an article dedicated to that topic.
Changes are always good for society, but it is always better, in the case of companies, to approach a professional on the subject, in order to avoid sanctions by the corresponding authorities.
But we must also congratulate the companies that, for decades, have been working less than 48 hours a day, many of them 40 hours a week, in the case of corporate or office work, and others even from 38 to 37 hours.
Being companies, without so much turnover or even without turnover, with employees with a healthier physical and mental health, which is what this reform seeks.
Most of the reforms that are being passed or are at the door seek to improve the all-around health of employees.
References.
Federal Labor Law (2024). Virtual Library, Congress of the Union. Revised December 03, 2024. https://www.diputados.gob.mx/sedia/biblio/virtual.htm
La jornada. Internet news. Revised December 03, 2024. https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2024/12/03/politica/arrancara-en-2025-la-discusion-sobre-la-jornada-laboral-de-40-horas-sheinbaum-4824
