Weekly Work Hours of Over 48 Hours in Mexico Could Be a Crime
Weekly work hours of over 48 hours in Mexico could be subject to penalties, according to a law reform approved by the Chamber of Deputies.
Work hours exceeding 48 hours a week could be punished with up to 12 years of imprisonment, as it will be considered a form of labor exploitation.
This regulation is part of the amendment to the law against human trafficking that was approved by the Chamber of Deputies.
This legal amendment was endorsed amid the ongoing debate in San Lázaro to increase the minimum weekly rest days for workers from one to two, automatically reducing the weekly work hours from 48 to 40.
It was during the session on October 25 when the plenary of the Lower House approved modifications to the General Law for the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Human Trafficking Crimes and for the Protection and Assistance to the Victims of these Crimes.
In this regard, weekly work hours exceeding 48 hours in Mexico will be penalized.
This regulation will be approved unanimously in general. The reform has been sent to the Senate of the Republic for review.
Among the victims of human trafficking are workers who must receive protection and justice, as stated in the initiative promoted by Deputy Julieta Kristal Vences Valencia (Morena).
However, “the most affected sector during the pandemic was women. About 5 million of them lost their source of income and their family’s, putting them in a highly vulnerable situation because, in the need to find employment, they were potential victims of false job offers,” said the deputy in the assembly.
The reform extends protection for victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation or begging by increasing penalties to up to 50 years when the individuals are under 18 years of age or over 60 years, lack the capacity to understand the significance of the act or resist it, belong to one of Mexico’s native nations, are of African Mexican descent, pregnant, or have a disability.
In the case of labor exploitation, the bill modifies Article 21 of the law against human trafficking, establishing penalties ranging from “3 to 10 years of imprisonment and from 5,000 to 50,000 days‘ fines for anyone who exploits one or more individuals in a labor capacity.”
Currently, this regulation encompasses three ways in which people are exploited at work:
- Working in dangerous or unsanitary conditions without protection
- When the amount of work performed and the compensation for it are disproportionate
- With salaries below the legally established minimum.
The reform adds a fourth type of labor exploitation: “Weekly work hours of over 48 hours in Mexico.”
And when this crime is committed against indigenous or African Mexican people, the penalties will be 4 to 12 years of imprisonment and fines ranging from 7,000 to 70,000 days.
In Mexico, more than 850,000 people are victims of modern slavery, according to the Global Slavery Index 2023, by the International Labor Organization (ILO), developed in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the non-governmental organization Walk Free.
Mexico has the longest work hours among all members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
