Working from Home Policy in Mexico
Work from home
Remote work, or telework, is a form of subordinate work organization involving remunerated performance in places different from the employer’s establishment(s), using primarily IT means of communication between the employer and the employee.
Information and communication technologies shall be understood as the set of services, infrastructure, networks, software, computer applications, and devices intended to facilitate the tasks and functions in the workplace, as well as those required for management and transformation of information, particularly the technological components that enable the creation, modification, storage, protection, and retrieval of such information.
For work to be considered remote, more than 40 percent of the working day must be spent at the employee’s home or at a place designated by the employee.
The employment terms and conditions are set forth in writing in a contract, and each party keeps a copy of the contract which should contain the following:
- name, nationality, age, sex, and permanent/legal addresses of the parties
- nature and characteristics of the work
- salary amount
- work equipment and supplies, including those related to health and safety obligations
- form or remuneration (in Mexico there are four additional types of salaries on top of the monetary one), payment amount, date and place
- mechanisms of supervision and contact between the parties, as well as the duration and distribution of schedules
This modality does not exempt the employer from complying with the health and safety provisions required, and therefore it is obligatory that employers register their employees at IMSS.
Remote-work employees render their personal, remunerated, and subordinate services in a place different from the facilities of the company or the employer’s source of work and use the information and communication technologies.
Remote work Employment Contract
In addition to all manadatory provisions in employment contract, if the employee works remotely, these additional pointers must be include:
- equipment and work supplies, including those related to safety and health obligations, delivered to the remote-work employee
- form of remuneration and payment amount the employee is to receive for performing services at home related to remote work
- mechanisms of (1) contact between the parties and (2) supervision, as well as the duration and distribution of schedules, as long as they do not exceed the legal maximums
Remote work employer obligations
Employers allowing workers to perform services remotely have the following obligations:
- providing necessary equipment for remote work, such as computers, ergonomic chairs, printers, etc.
- providing installation of the necessary work equipment
- giving maintenance to the necessary work equipment
- receiving remote work in a timely manner
- paying salaries in the established form and by certain dates
- paying for telecommunication services (i.e., Internet and telephone) and the proportional part of electricity charges
- registering the inputs delivered to the remote employees
- implementing information and data safety mechanisms
- respecting the workers’ right to disconnect at the end of the working day
- registering employees for social security
- establishing the necessary training and counselling mechanisms to guarantee employees’ adaptation to, learning, and adequate use of information technologies
Health & safety at home
The employer is responsible for providing the employee with the necessary tools to perform the work activities and must cover the costs of telecommunications services and the proportional part of electricity charges. Currently, however, Mexican law doesn’t regulate the percentage of costs to be paid. Likewise, the employer is responsible for ensuring that the employee receives training and counselling in order to guarantee adaptation, learning, and adequate use of information technologies.
Until now, Mexican legislation has not regulated occupational accidents in the remote work modality.
Security of information
Some companies implement systems that allow to monitor, record, and, when necessary, view employee computer activities, which is currently not mandatory and not regulated by law.
Workspace Guidelines in Mexico
