In February, the Congress of the Union will resume its regular sessions and one of the topics that could be discussed in the first days is the reform for the reduction of working hours. The proposed modifications to the Constitution already Federal Labor Law (LFT), promoted by President Claudia Sheinbaum, were sent to the Senate in December and have already been referred to committees.
The initiatives will be ruled on by the joint commissions of Labor and Social Security, and First Legislative Studies.
The project seeks gradually reduce the working day to reach a limit of 40 hours per week in 2030. The proposal was prepared by consensus, after more than 40 working groups, both public and private, convened by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), the authority that designed the reform.
These are the keys to the working day reform that will be discussed in Congress:
1. Entry into force and preparation period
If approved under the current terms, the reform would come into force on May 1 of this year, and would provide a period of six months for companies to prepare; That is, they adjust their processes, shifts and other aspects, to comply with the first reduction of hours from the January 1, 2027.
However, the STPS has called for Work centers begin to prepare now for the first change in the working day. “It is not a time not to work on the implementation of the reform, from now on we have to start with internal discussions in the organizations about how to move forward gradually to achieve the objective,” said Marath Bolaños, Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare, in an interview with The Economist last December.
2. What will the transition be like?
The gradual transition would start on January 1, 2027; That is, from that date the limit of hours per week would be reduced from 48 to 46 hours. Subsequently, every January 1st, two hours per year would be reduced until reaching 40 hours in 2030.
This is the proposed schedule:
- 48 hours in 2026
- 46 hours in 2027
- 44 hours in 2028
- 42 hours in 2029
- 40 hours in 2030
3. Extension of overtime
The reform also contemplates extend overtime allowed 9 to 12 hours per week. This increase would also be carried out gradually, starting on January 1 of the corresponding year, according to the following calendar:
- 9 hours in 2026
- 9 hours in 2027
- 10 hours in 2028
- 11 hours in 2029
- 12 hours in 2030
This does not mean that overtime can be used permanently to compensate for the ordinary time that will be reduced. The reform preserves in the Federal Labor Law the criterion that the working day is only extended due to extraordinary circumstances and in agreement with the worker.
With this change, people will be able to work four extra hours per day and up to three times a week.
The project also proposes limit the hours triple to 4 hours per weekthis to provide greater clarity with the reform of the Law to Prevent Human Trafficking of 2024, which classified as a crime of labor exploitation the days that exceed the limits of permitted overtime.
4. Time clock, a new obligation at the door
With the reduction of the working day, employers would have a new obligation: to have electronic records of work schedules. The information in these records may be required by the authority.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security will be in charge of defining the provisions for application and electronic records exceptions.
5. 40 hours, but with a day of rest
Although the reform proposes a reduction in the working day to 40 hours per week, it does not increase the days of rest; that is, maintains one day of rest for every six days of work.
Until now, most of the proposals that had been presented in the Congress of the Union, including the project that was ruled on in committees of the Chamber of Deputies in 2023, proposed a five-day workday for two rest periods, which translated into a reduction from 48 to 40 hours in the weekly limit.
