Learn about the obligations that employers will be subject to with the entry into force of the Chair Law in Mexico.
Does your job require you to stand for long hours? Well, your employer is now required to provide not only seats with backrests, but also rest periods, because as of Tuesday June 17, 2025, the Chair Law entered into force in Mexico.
The reform to the Federal Labor Law published on December 19, 2024 in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF) established in Section V of Article 132 of the LFT [Federal Labor Law] that making a sufficient number of seats or chairs with backrests available to all employees is among the obligations of employers.
The foregoing applies to employers and employees in the following sectors: services, commerce, and analogous work centers and, in accordance with the provisions of Section XVII Bis of Article 133, it is prohibited that employers force their subordinates to remain standing for their entire workday or preventing them from sitting down periodically during the performance of their duties.
While the employer obligation has already entered into force and the Chair Law is a reality, some questions remain to be resolved: how long can one remain seated, how many breaks can be taken and what happens if the employer does not comply with the legislation?
For how long can you sit under the 2025 Chair Law?
Article 63 of the LFT establishes that employees have the right to a break of at least half an hour “during the uninterrupted workday”; nevertheless, it does not establish exact rest periods in regard to the Chair Law, even though the reform seeks that employers amend their Internal Labor Regulations (RIT) in this regard.
In this sense, and in order to make amendments that are transparent in regard to the rest periods that collaborators will have a right to before the Department of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), Sections I and V of Article 423 of the LFT mention that RITs must include the “mandatory rest periods.”
Likewise, the Regulations must regulate the employees’ right “to use seats or chairs with backrests during the workday.”
In this context, De la Vega & Martínez Rojas, a Law Firm specializing in Labor Law, said in a statement dated on June 17, 2025 that in “periodic rest” periods, seats must be located in specific areas “within the facilities of the workplace itself.”
Fines for failure to comply with the Chair Law
The De la Vega & Martínez Rojas Firm explained that due to the labor regulations, in 2025 the STPS increased the number of labor inspections, and it is expected that more than 43,000 verification visits will be conducted to supervise “compliance with the Chair Law”.
Given this scenario, the Firm pointed out that failure to comply with the provisions of the regulation could “result in fines ranging from 250 to 2,500 times the daily value of the Unit of Measurement and Update, (from $28,285 to $282,850)” and, in cases of repeated violations, it could result in the temporary suspension of operations at the workplace.
It is worth noting that even though the Chair Law entered into force on June 17, 2025, employers have until December 14, 2025 to adjust their regulations and every rule that enables them to comply with labor obligations.
The foregoing based on the provisions of Transitory Article Three of the reform published in the DOF, which states that employers “will have a period of 180 calendar days from the entry into force of the Executive Order to adjust their internal rules and regulations and comply with the reform to the LFT.”
