Mexico City. The labor reform, known as the “Chair Law” entered into force this Tuesday, but companies have 180 days to adjust their regulations and comply with its provisions.
In the first place, companies or employers must include, in their internal labor regulations, mandatory provisions that define the periods of rest for employees during their shifts, lawyer Diego García Saucedo stated.
He pointed out that the reform to the Federal Labor Law established in its Article 133 the prohibition on companies requiring employees to remain standing for the entire duration of their work shift.
In an interview, he emphasized that a key point is that the Department of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) publishes in the next 30 days the corresponding regulations that “will provide clarity” for its application and set the pattern for conducting inspections with the objective of preventing the law from becoming “dead letter”.
According to an analysis by the De la Vega & Martínez Firm, it is estimated that the federal agency will conduct 43,000 inspections this year in the country, including specific actions for supervising compliance with the “Chair Law”.
This new law applies to the services and commercial sectors and to work centers with activities that are compatible with this measure, and can only be limited for safety reasons, they stated.
Daniel Jiménez González, a member of the legal area of the Center for Reflection and Labor Action (Cereal), pointed out that companies that fail to comply with the “Chair Law” may be subject to fines from 250 to 2,500 times the Unit of Measurement and Update, that is, between 28,000 and 282,000 pesos. In case of recividism by the work center, this could even be punished with the temporary suspension of work.
The new law was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on December 19, 2024 and it establishes that the employer is responsible for providing seats or chairs with backrests to employees, both for the performance of their job duties and for periodic rest during the workday.
A survey conducted by the online employment platform OccMundial found that 45 percent of workers that work standing up stated that, to this date, they do not receive any support at work in order to mitigate fatigue.
