the problem is how you want to do it

Mexico is about to make a profound change in the organization of its work week, reducing the maximum working day from the current 48 hours. 40 hours per week The proposal presented by President Sheinbaum is to bring the working day closer to OECD standards. Currently, Mexico is one of the countries with the longest working day in the world.

The problem is that the path to reaching those 40 hours a week is not going to be as simple as it was proposed. in the first proposals and the result is a reform that is born with many nuances, with a calendar that extends until 2030 and that already generates doubts among businessmen and accusations of “simulation” from the opposition.

How the working day will be reduced. The opinion circulating in the Constitutional Points and Legislative Studies commissions that is being studied for its approval in the Senateestablishes a progressive reduction of the working day at a rate of two hours less each year until 2030.

That is to say:

• 2026 will end with a 48-hour work week.
• In 2027 it will be reduced to 46 hours.
• In 2028 it will be reduced to 44 hours.
• In 2029 it will go to 42 hours.
• In 2030 the goal of 40 hours per week applies.

This design seeks to give companies room to adapt so that salaries are not affected and productivity adapts progressively. Congress will have 90 days to adjust the Federal Labor Law and align it with the new 40-hour limit, which includes redefining new regulations to regulate overtime and working hours control mechanisms.

A single day of rest. One of the first changes that have occurred with respect to President Sheinbaum’s first proposal is that the obligation of two days of rest will not be applied, but rather the current text of the article 123 of the Constitutionwhich states that for every six days of work there must be “at least one day of rest.”

In practice, this means that even with a 40-hour week, the ruling does not explicitly establish a work schedule with Saturdays and Sundays off, but rather preserves the minimum of a single day of rest with full salary.

Eight hours that will be extra. On the other hand, in the modifications with which the Senate is working, it is considered that the eight hours that are going to be cut from the ordinary day may be covered as overtime.

The new framework states that overtime may not exceed 12 hours per week, compared to the current eight, and may be distributed in up to four hours a day for a maximum of four days. Compared to the three hours a day with a limit of three consecutive days that regulates the current Federal Labor Law. That is, the working day is reduced, but the limits for overtime are increased. Of course, when this limit is exceeded, each extra hour must be paid at 200% of the usual salary.

Controversy over the hours. This extended extra work design has triggered criticism from the opposition and some specialists, who consider that the reduction in working hours is distorted if a relevant part of those hours ends up returning to the calendar as overtime.

The national leader of the Citizen Movement, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, summed it up harshly from your Facebook profile stating: “Alert, Morena wants to make a fool of themselves in reducing the working day,” and maintained that the ruling “does not reduce the working day to 40 hours until 2030 and extends overtime hours to 12 per day, so that the working day does not actually decrease.”

Less hours, less rest. For their part, business associations demand that the new regulations establish a reduction in rest timesso that the eight hours a day are effective work.

Employers are asking to compact the day to reduce rest times during the day, so that it can be done uninterrupted. The Government has already positioned itself against it since its commitment was not to cut the rights already acquired by workers.

30 million Mexicans will work fewer hours. It is estimated that with the reduction of the working day, some 30 million Mexican employees will work fewer hours, better reconciling their work and family life.

Mexico is currently one of the countries with the longest working hours in the world with an annual working day of about 2,124 hours per year, compared to an average of 1,687 hours. in OECD countriesthat is, around 23% more.

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Image | Unsplash (Clayton Cardinalli, Denise Jans)