On January 24, 2024, the “DECREE amending, adding and repealing several provisions of the Federal Labor Law and the Social Security Law, regarding the labor rights of farm workers” was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation.
The provisions contained therein shall be applicable to farm workers who perform work aimed at obtaining food or primary products through the performance of various agricultural, horticultural, livestock, forestry, aquaculture, poultry, beekeeping or other similar tasks, provided that these are not subjected to any type of industrial process and as long as they are carried out in rural areas.
Among the most relevant points of the aforementioned decree, new obligations are added to the Employers that hire field workers, among which are the following:
In addition, employers are expressly prohibited:
In order to comply with the aforementioned obligations, labor inspectors are required to make inspection visits at least once a year and during the production season.
Failure to comply with protective fieldwork regulations could generate fines for employers of 250 to 5000 UMA, or $27,142.50 to $542,850.00 in 2024.
In our opinion, the decree omits to address legal principles that must be observed in labor and social security matters, as well as the fundamental rights of companies that employ farm workers, which is why we consider the reform to be unconstitutional and legally challengeable through a means of constitutional control.
It is important to emphasize that the chances of success of what we referred to in the previous section are uncertain, and that the result will probably be a political and not strictly legal matter, however, promoting the means of challenge would not cause any damage and/or harm, and if it is favorable, it could avoid the high costs associated with the implementation of the reform.
Finally, they should take into consideration that if they wish to challenge the constitutionality of the decree, the challenge must be filed before the competent jurisdictional body within 30 days following its publication.
We hope you find this information useful and we remain at your disposal for any questions or comments you may have regarding this information.
Atentamente,