Mexico's 40-Hour Work Week and Severance: What a Plant Pays in 2026

Mexico's 40-hour work week is law. The amendment to Article 123 of the Constitution was published in the DOF on 3 March 2026, and the reform to the Ley Federal del Trabajo followed on 1 May 2026. The ordinary week falls from 48 hours to 46 on 1 January 2027, and by two hours a year to 40 in 2030. Wages, salaries and benefits cannot be reduced.

For a plant, the reform changes two numbers at once: the cost of each productive hour, and the cost of every exit. This guide covers the schedule and the overtime rules, then the severance math in pesos, including the 20-day rule that many guides get wrong.

For the full cost of a hire, start with the guide to hiring employees in Mexico.

Is the 40-hour week law, and when does it bite?

Date	Step
3 December 2025	The President sends the constitutional initiative to the Senate
11 February 2026	The Senate approves it
24 to 25 February 2026	The Chamber of Deputies approves it
3 March 2026	The states ratify it; it is published in the DOF and takes effect
22 April 2026	Congress passes the Ley Federal del Trabajo reform, unanimously in the Chamber
1 May 2026	The labor law reform is published and takes effect
1 May to 31 December 2026	The decree's adjustment period for employers and workers
1 January 2027	The ordinary week falls to 46 hours

Article 59 of the Ley Federal del Trabajo now reads: "La duración máxima de la jornada ordinaria de trabajo será de cuarenta horas semanales." The decree's transitional articles phase it in, and both decrees state that "en ningún caso la reducción de la jornada laboral implicará la disminución de sueldos, salarios o prestaciones."

What does the schedule look like for a plant?

From 1 January	Ordinary hours a week	Overtime at double pay	Further overtime at triple pay	Maximum hours a week
2026	48	9	4	61
2027	46	9	4	59
2028	44	10	4	58
2029	42	11	4	57
2030	40	12	4	56

Article 68 caps overtime beyond the double-pay allowance at four hours a week, paid at triple, and sets a ceiling of 12 hours a day for ordinary and overtime hours combined. The STPS describes the 2030 result as "un máximo de 56 horas semanales." The daily maximums do not change: eight hours for a day shift, seven and a half for a mixed shift and seven for a night shift.

The one-rest-day rule stays. Article 69 still grants "por lo menos, un día de descanso" for every six days worked, so the reform does not mandate a five-day week. Employers and workers may agree on how the weekly hours are distributed, and in continuous operations they agree on the rest days under Article 70.

Which shifts break the cap first?

Run a six-day pattern at the daily maximum against the phase-in:

Shift	Hours a week on six days	First year over the cap
Day, 8 hours	48	2027
Mixed, 7.5 hours	45	2028
Night, 7 hours	42	2030

With pay fixed and hours falling, your cost per productive hour rises 4.3 percent in 2027, 9.1 percent in 2028, 14.3 percent in 2029 and 20 percent in 2030, before any change in productivity.

Holding a 48-hour attendance week through overtime is expensive and legally fragile. For an operator on 400 pesos a day on a six-day week, the double-pay overtime to stay at 48 hours costs about 7 percent of base pay in 2027 and about 34 percent in 2030, on a simple hourly-rate method. Article 66 allows overtime for "circunstancias extraordinarias," and the STPS describes it as voluntary, so a staffing plan that depends on it rests on weak ground. Most plants close the gap with added headcount, a revised shift pattern or productivity gains, and the decision is worth making before January 2027.

What else changed for employers?

An electronic time register. New section XXXIV of Article 132 requires you to "registrar de manera electrónica la jornada laboral de cada persona trabajadora, incluyendo el horario de inicio y finalización," and to provide it to the authority on request. The STPS rules on its scope take effect on 1 January 2027 and had not been published as of 12 October 2026. Article 994 sets fines of 250 to 5,000 UMA, about 29,300 to 586,600 pesos at the 2026 UMA of 117.31 pesos.

No pay cuts, with a severance consequence. A cut in pay is a cause for the worker to leave under Article 51, section IV, and Article 52 then entitles the worker to the full indemnity of Article 50, including 20 days per year of service. Offsetting the shorter week through wages is the most expensive way to absorb it.

What is the difference between finiquito and liquidación?

The Ley Federal del Trabajo does not use the word finiquito; it is a practice term. Article 33 governs every exit: any settlement "deberá hacerse por escrito," and it has to be ratified before the conciliation center or the court, which approves it only if the worker waives no rights.

	Finiquito	Liquidación
When it is owed	On every exit, including resignation	When you end the job without proven cause
Unpaid wages	Yes	Yes
Pro rata aguinaldo, 15 days a year (Art. 87)	Yes	Yes
Untaken vacation (Art. 76) and 25 percent premium (Art. 80)	Yes	Yes
Seniority premium, 12 days a year (Art. 162)	On any dismissal, and on resignation after 15 years	Yes
Three months of integrated salary (Art. 48 and 50)	No	Yes
20 days per year of service (Art. 50)	No	Only in the cases below
Back pay and interest (Art. 48)	No	Only if litigated and lost

Vacation entitlement starts at 12 days after the first year and rises by two days a year to 20 in year five, under the 2023 reform. Profit sharing for the days worked is paid the following May and stays outside the severance base.

When are the 20 days per year owed?

Not on every dismissal. Supreme Court jurisprudence of the Fourth Chamber, registro digital 1008929, holds that the 20 days "únicamente procede en los casos que señalan los artículos 49, 52 y 947" of the law:

• Article 49. The employer is exempted from reinstating the worker and pays the indemnity instead, for example for a worker with less than a year of service, a confidence employee or a temporary worker.
• Article 52. The worker leaves for a cause attributable to the employer, such as a cut in pay.
• Article 947. The employer refuses to submit the dispute to the court or to accept its judgment.

Several English-language guides, and some government pages, present the 20 days as a standard part of every unjustified dismissal. On a plain claim of unjustified dismissal, the legal core is the three months, the seniority premium and the finiquito.

What is the seniority premium cap in 2026?

Article 162 sets the premium at 12 days of salary per year of service, and Article 486 caps the salary used at twice the minimum wage of the zone. With the 2026 minimum wages of 315.04 pesos in the general zone and 440.87 pesos in the northern border zone, the caps are:

Zone	2026 minimum wage	Seniority premium cap a day
General zone, including Monterrey, Saltillo, Querétaro and the Bajío	315.04	630.08
Northern border zone, including Tijuana, Juárez, Reynosa and Matamoros	440.87	881.74

A 2024 collegiate court thesis holds that the base for the cap is the minimum wage, not the UMA. The three-month indemnity has no cap.

A worked example: one operator, three years

An illustrative case: a production operator on an indefinite contract in Querétaro, general zone, on 400 pesos a day, hired on 13 October 2023 and dismissed without cause on 12 October 2026. Statutory benefits only, one unpaid day, the third year's 16 vacation days untaken, no 2026 aguinaldo paid yet.

The integrated daily salary adds the aguinaldo and vacation premium to the daily wage: 400 × (1 + 15/365 + 16 × 0.25/365) = 420.82 pesos.

Item	Calculation	Pesos
Unpaid wages	1 day × 400.00	400.00
Pro rata aguinaldo	15 × 285/365 days × 400.00	4,684.93
Untaken vacation	16 days × 400.00	6,400.00
Vacation premium	25 percent × 6,400.00	1,600.00
Finiquito		13,084.93
Seniority premium	12 × 3 years × 420.82 (under the 630.08 cap)	15,149.59
Three months of integrated salary	90 × 420.82	37,873.97
Liquidación, settled		66,108.49

Three variations change the number:

Scenario	Pesos
Settled, plain unjustified dismissal	66,108.49
The 20 days apply, for example after a pay cut (+ 20 × 3 × 420.82)	91,357.81
Litigated and lost after 12 months (+ 12 months of back pay)	219,708.49
Each further month unresolved (2 percent on 15 months of salary)	+ 3,787.40 a month

At 18 pesos to the dollar, the settled case is about US$3,700 and the litigated one about US$12,200. The settled exit costs roughly 165 days of base wage; losing in court after a year costs about 3.3 times as much. The figures leave out employer social security and payroll-tax costs and the worker's income tax withholding, and the 90-day and 365-day conventions are practice, not statute, so confirm the calculation with Mexican labor counsel before you rely on it.

What deadlines apply to a dismissal?

• Notice. Article 47 requires written notice stating the conduct and dates, delivered in person at dismissal or through the court within five business days. Without it, the dismissal is presumed unjustified.
• Employer. You have one month from learning of the cause to dismiss for it (Article 517).
• Worker. A dismissed worker has two months to bring the claim (Article 518), a period paused by a request for conciliation.
• Back pay. Capped at 12 months under Article 48, a cap the Supreme Court upheld in 2016; after that, 2 percent a month on 15 months of salary.

If you take over an existing workforce, from a shelter or through an acquisition, Article 41 carries the workers' seniority to the new employer, and since April 2021 employer substitution takes effect only if the business assets pass with it. Our shelter program cost guide covers who pays severance when a shelter contract ends.

The bottom line

The 40-hour week is law, and the first step lands on 1 January 2027, when a six-day day shift at eight hours runs two hours over the new 46-hour cap. Pay cannot fall, overtime is capped, and the electronic time register arrives the same month. Plan the 2027 shift pattern now, with the 2028 step in view.

On exits, the legal core of an unjustified dismissal is three months of integrated salary, the seniority premium and the finiquito, settled in writing and ratified. The 20 days per year apply only in the cases the Supreme Court names, and a pay cut is one of them.

The talent and labour practice brings in Mexican labor counsel for shift redesign and exits. If you want a second read on your own plant's numbers, a complimentary 30-minute call is available, and you will hear back within 24 hours.