Mexico: Possible Constitutional Reform for the Reduction of Working Hours

In Mexico, House of Representatives Member Susana Prieto, from the Political Party Morena, presented a proposed bill to constitutionally amend working hours. The spirit of the proposed bill is to reduce the weekly work hours from 48 to 40 to grant employees the right to enjoy two mandatory rest days per five working days in a week. The proposed bill has not yet been approved by the House of Representatives. Even if it gets approved, since this is a constitutional reform, it will need the approval of a qualified majority of the two-thirds of the Senators, and, furthermore, it will need to be passed by at least 17 of the local Congresses to enter into force. Morena currently does not have a qualified majority in the Senate, so most likely, this reform will not be discussed until after the 2024 general elections in Mexico.

Mexican work shifts are divided into three categories: the daytime shift, night time shift, and mixed time shift. The day shift’s number of working hours is 8, the night shift is 7 hours, and the mixed shift is 7.5 hours per day. Consequently, the current weekly working hours for the day work shift is 48 hours, 42 hours for the night, and 45 for the mixed shift. If the proposed bill is approved and entered into force, then the daytime working hours will be reduced to 40 hours per week, the limit will be 35 for night working hours, and the limit will be 37.5 for the mixed working hours.

This proposed bill will be discussed throughout October and November of 2023. This proposed bill will entail a drastic change to the working hours. Hence, companies should start analysing their work schemes to face this possible change.