Terms and Conditions of Employment in Mexico
Intellectual property
Patents
The ownership of the invention shall correspond to the person or persons who made it, but the employer shall have a preferential right, all other things being equal, to the exclusive use or acquisition of the invention and the corresponding patents.
Copyright
In the case of a work produced as a result of an employment relationship established through an individual employment contract in writing, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, economic rights are divided equally between the employer and the employee.
The employer may disclose the work without the employee’s authorisation, but not vice versa. In the absence of a written individual employment contract, the economic rights correspond to the employee.
Software and its documentation belongs to the employer (unless otherwise agreed), when created by one or more employees performing their duties or following the instructions of the employer.
Confidentiality
It is the employee’s obligation to scrupulously safeguard the technical secrets (know how) and the commercial, product manufacturing, and reserved administrative matters, the disclosure of which may cause damage to the company in which the employee works.
Non-compete and exclusivity
It is not possible to include an exclusivity clause or a non-compete clause in the employment contract unless such provisions are included in the provision of services agreement.
Teleworking
From 2024, employers have certain obligations regarding the safety, health, and effective management of employees engaged in telework. Those include:
- Maintain an up-to-date list of employees engaged in telework, including detailed personal and job-related information.
- Ensure that telework locations comply with specific connectivity, safety, and health conditions.
- Implement a Telework Policy with a gender perspective.
- Validate the "Checklist of the conditions of safety and health in Teleworking" through physical or virtual inspections.
- Document the procedure to migrate from face-to-face to telework modality.
- Provide ergonomic chairs and equipment for work performance.
- Create documented programs for equipment maintenance.
- Provide annual training on safety and health conditions in the workplace.
- Guarantee the option for employees to revert to the face-to-face scheme when justified.
- Perform medical examinations in accordance with NOM-030-STPS-2009.
- Set mechanisms for cases of family violence.
- Maintain confidentiality of the employee lists under the telework modality.
- Facilitate employee participation in the Safety and Hygiene Commission or the Joint Commission of Training and Productivity.
- Include union rights and provisions from the applicable collective bargaining agreement in the Telework Policy.
In turn, employees too, have to do the following:
- Provide necessary facilities for safety and health condition checks in their workplace.
- Comply with the Telework Policy.
- Inform the employer of any safety and health-related alterations preventing their work activities.
- Safeguard and maintain the electronic equipment, materials, tools, and ergonomic material provided by the employer.
- Comply with occupational safety and health provisions and undergo required medical examinations.
- Abide by policies for data and information protection set forth by the employer.
- Inform the employer in writing of any temporary or permanent change of address for remote activities.
- Participate in information and training processes related to telework risks.
- Notify the employer and the Safety and Hygiene Commission of work-related risks.
