Quick Hits
- Under Mexico’s Chair Law, the main obligations for employers are: (i) having enough seats with a backrest for employees’ use, and (ii) avoiding prohibiting employees from taking seated breaks when the nature of the works allow it.
- Noncompliance with the Chair Law could trigger fines.
The Chair Law’s General Content and Employers’ Main Obligations
Employers in the service and retail industries, and similar sectors, are the main covered employers under the Chair Law. Covered employers will have 180 days (as of the day of the law’s publication) to comply with the following requirements:
- Provide enough chairs with backrests for employees.
- Allow employees to take periodic breaks to sit and rest on chairs with backrests during their work shifts. The objective is for employees not to have to remain standing for the entirety of their work shifts.
- Any employer rules regarding rest periods and the use of chair backrests must be contained in the company’s internal work regulations.
- Inform and advise employees about the health risks related to prolonged standing periods.
Although the Chair Law specifies that service and retail industry employers are subject to its requirements, it does not exempt employers in other industries, so it is likely that all employers will have to meet the law’s requirements. The law’s only exception concerns whether the nature of the work could harm employees if performed sitting. Nonetheless, some rest period must be granted whenever the nature of the work allows it.
Finally, the implementation of the law, and how the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare will supervise compliance, both remain unclear. Once the Chair Law is enforceable and the authority starts compliance reviews, there should be more clarity for employers to proceed.
Enforceability and Penalties for Noncompliance
Once the 180-day period elapses, the Chair Law will become fully enforceable, and the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare will be entitled to verify, inspect, and review employers’ compliance.
In cases of noncompliance, fines will be triggered and will range from 250 to 2,500 times the Mexican Measurement and Updating Unit (UMA), equivalent to amounts from $27,142.50 to $271,425.00 Mexican pesos ($1,344.80 to $13,448.02 USD).
Ogletree Deakins’ Mexico City office will continue to monitor developments and will provide updates on the Cross-Border blog as additional information becomes available.
Pietro Straulino-Rodríguez is the managing partner of the Mexico City office of Ogletree Deakins.
Natalia Merino Moreno is an associate in the Mexico City office of Ogletree Deakins.
María José Bladinieres is a law clerk in the Mexico City office of Ogletree Deakins.
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