Mexico has had a 48-hour working week since the 1917 Constitution. In 2026 that changed: a constitutional reform of article 123, published on 3 March, set a 40-hour week, and on 1 May a reform to the Ley Federal del Trabajo was published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación, cutting the ordinary week to 40 hours over four annual steps.
Buried in the same decree is something that matters more to anyone running a time tracking system. A new fraction of article 132 obliges employers to keep an electronic record of each worker's start and end times and to produce it to the authorities on request. Mexico has never had a general electronic time-recording mandate before.
The decree has been in force since 1 May 2026, but the first cut in hours and the STPS rules for the record both apply from 1 January 2027. The rest of 2026 is the transition period.
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Quick Reference
| Rule | Value | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary weekly hours (target) | 40 hours by 2030 | LFT art. 59, as amended |
| Daily hours | 8 daytime, 7 night, 7.5 mixed | LFT art. 61 |
| Overtime rate | Double the ordinary hourly wage | LFT art. 66 |
| Overtime beyond the weekly cap | Triple, at most 4 hours a week | LFT art. 68 |
| Maximum daily overtime | 4 hours, across no more than 4 days a week | LFT art. 66 |
| Maximum total day | 12 hours including overtime | LFT art. 68 |
| Weekly rest | 1 day per 6 worked, preferably Sunday | LFT arts. 69 and 71 |
| Sunday premium | At least 25 percent | LFT art. 71 |
| Rest during a continuous shift | At least 30 minutes | LFT art. 63 |
| Annual leave, year 1 | 12 days, rising to 20 by year 5 | LFT art. 76 |
| Electronic attendance record | Required, with STPS rules from 1 January 2027 | LFT art. 132, XXXIV |
| Penalty for non-compliance | 250 to 5,000 UMAs | LFT art. 994, IV Bis |
The Staggered Reduction
The reform does not cut the week to 40 hours at once. It steps down annually, and the weekly overtime allowance steps up as it goes:
| Year | Ordinary weekly hours | Maximum weekly overtime |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 48 | 9 |
| 2027 | 46 | 9 |
| 2028 | 44 | 10 |
| 2029 | 42 | 11 |
| 2030 | 40 | 12 |
The period from 1 May to 31 December 2026 is a transition window. The first binding reduction lands on 1 January 2027.
The design is deliberate: as the ordinary week shrinks, the lawful overtime headroom grows, so total available hours fall more slowly than the headline number suggests. An employer at 48 ordinary plus 9 overtime today has 57 hours available; in 2030 they will have 40 plus 12, which is 52.
Daily Limits
Article 61 keeps the familiar daily figures: 8 hours for a daytime shift, 7 for a night shift, and 7.5 for a mixed shift.
Overtime is now capped at 4 hours a day across no more than 4 days a week, and no working day may exceed 12 hours in total once overtime is included.
Overtime Pay: Double, Then Triple
This is the part that catches foreign employers.
- Overtime within the weekly cap is paid at double the ordinary hourly rate, meaning 100 percent extra.
- Overtime beyond the weekly cap is paid at triple, meaning 200 percent extra, and article 68 allows at most 4 such hours a week.
The triple rate is not a bonus tier you can budget for. It applies once the article 66 limit is exceeded, and workers are not obliged to work beyond the limits the law sets (article 68).
The New Electronic Attendance Record
Article 132 lists the employer's obligations. The reform adds a new fraction XXXIV requiring employers to keep an electronic record of the working day of each worker, including start and end times, and to provide it to the labor authority on request. The STPS issues general rules on where the duty applies and on exceptions, and those rules take effect on 1 January 2027. A record that the worker and employer agreed on counts as full proof.
Three features are worth pulling out.
It is electronic by requirement, not by preference. A paper sign-in sheet will not satisfy the wording.
It is per worker and time-stamped at both ends. A monthly total, or a record of days present, does not meet a duty framed around start and end times.
It is enforceable directly. Article 994 gains a new fraction IV Bis setting a penalty of 250 to 5,000 UMAs for failing to keep it. The UMA (Unidad de Medida y Actualización) is the index unit Mexico uses instead of the minimum wage for fines, and its value is updated annually. From 1 February 2026 one UMA is MXN 117.31, so the range is roughly MXN 29,300 to 586,550; check the current figure before estimating exposure.
This lands on top of an evidential rule that already favoured the employee. Under article 784, the burden of proving disputed working hours (including overtime of up to nine hours a week), absences, and payment sits with the employer. Article 804 requires the employer to keep and produce attendance records where they are kept, for the last year of employment and one year after it ends, and under article 805 a missing record means the worker's account is presumed true unless the employer proves otherwise. From January 2027 the same gap is also a standalone administrative offence.
Rest, Sundays, and Leave
Weekly Rest and the Prima Dominical
Article 69 gives one day of rest on full pay for every six days worked, and article 71 says it should preferably be Sunday. Where an employee works their weekly rest day, article 73 requires the employer to pay a double salary for the service rendered, on top of the salary already due for the rest day. That is why the arrangement is usually described as triple pay, though the article itself does not use the word.
Separately, article 71 grants a prima dominical of at least 25 percent on top of ordinary wages to employees who work on a Sunday. The two are different things and both can apply.
Breaks
Article 63 requires a rest of at least 30 minutes during a continuous shift. Under article 64, where the worker cannot leave the workplace during that rest, the time counts as working time and is paid.
Annual Leave
The Ley de Vacaciones Dignas, in force since 1 January 2023, doubled the starting entitlement:
| Years of service | Leave days |
|---|---|
| 1 | 12 |
| 2 | 14 |
| 3 | 16 |
| 4 | 18 |
| 5 | 20 |
| 6 to 10 | 22 |
After year five the entitlement rises by two days for every additional five years of service. A prima vacacional of at least 25 percent of the wages for the leave period is payable on top, and the aguinaldo of at least 15 days' wages must be paid before 20 December.
Remote Work
Chapter XII Bis of the LFT, added in January 2021, governs teletrabajo where an employee works remotely for more than 40 percent of their time. It requires a written agreement, employer provision of equipment, a share of internet and electricity costs, and respect for the right to disconnect outside agreed hours.
NOM-037-STPS-2023 adds the health and safety layer, including a checklist of workplace conditions and a duty to identify psychosocial risks. It sits alongside NOM-035-STPS-2018, which covers psychosocial risk factors more broadly and expects employers to identify excessive workload as one of them.
Working-time limits and the new attendance record apply to remote workers exactly as they do on site.
Inspection and Penalties
The Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social (STPS) inspects and sanctions. Since the 2019 justice reform, individual disputes go to the Tribunales Laborales, judicial bodies that replaced the old tripartite Juntas de Conciliación y Arbitraje, with a mandatory conciliation stage first.
Fines under article 994 are expressed in UMAs and scale with the contravention. The new fraction IV Bis for the attendance record sits at 250 to 5,000 UMAs.
Practical Compliance Checklist
- Plan the step-down now. The first cut is 1 January 2027, and rosters, shift patterns, and payroll rules all need to move with it.
- Stand up an electronic attendance record before January 2027, capturing start and end times per worker.
- Track the weekly overtime cap per employee so the double rate does not silently become the triple rate.
- Check the 12-hour total day where overtime is rostered onto a full shift.
- Apply prima dominical and rest-day pay separately. They are different entitlements.
- Extend all of the above to teletrabajo staff, who are inside the rules, not outside them.
Common Questions
Is the 40-hour week already in effect? No. The decree was published on 1 May 2026, but the reduction starts on 1 January 2027 and reaches 40 hours in 2030. 2026 remains a 48-hour year.
Does the reform reduce pay along with hours? No. The reform reduces the ordinary working week without reducing wages, which is the point of the staggered timetable: it gives employers time to adjust staffing rather than salaries.
What exactly does the new record have to contain? The start and end time of each worker's working day, kept electronically and produced to the authority on request. Article 804 separately requires attendance records to be kept for the last year of employment and one year after it ends. Build it to also show breaks and the daily total, because that is what the overtime and 12-hour calculations depend on.
We are a small employer. Are we exempt? The article 132 obligation has no headcount threshold in the law itself, unlike Brazil's 20-employee rule, but the STPS general rules decide where it applies and which exceptions exist. Until they say otherwise, plan on it applying.
What is a UMA worth? The UMA is an index unit set annually by INEGI, used instead of the minimum wage as the base for fines and various obligations. From 1 February 2026 the daily value is MXN 117.31. It changes every February, so check the current value before multiplying rather than relying on a figure from a previous year.
Summary
- The ordinary week falls from 48 to 40 hours between 2027 and 2030, two hours a year
- Weekly overtime headroom rises from 9 to 12 hours across the same period
- Overtime is double within the cap and triple beyond it, with a 12-hour maximum day
- From 1 January 2027, when the STPS rules take effect, employers must keep an electronic record of each worker's start and end times
- Failure to keep it carries a fine of 250 to 5,000 UMAs under the new article 994, IV Bis
- The employer already bears the burden of proving disputed hours (overtime up to nine a week) under articles 784 and 804
Sources
- Ley Federal del Trabajo on diputados.gob.mx
- Diario Oficial de la Federación, decree published 1 May 2026
- Diario Oficial de la Federación, constitutional reform of article 123 published 3 March 2026
- INEGI: UMA values from 1 February 2026
- Greenberg Traurig: Reforma a la Ley Federal del Trabajo, reducción gradual de la jornada laboral
- Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social
- NOM-035-STPS-2018 and NOM-037-STPS-2023
Where to Go Next
- Working hours in Brazil: the CLT and the electronic time clock for the Latin American jurisdiction that already specifies what an electronic recorder must do
- Spain's time tracking law: Royal Decree-Law 8/2019 for the closest Spanish-language parallel to a daily record mandate
- FLSA overtime in the USA for the northern neighbor's very different approach