Mexico
Min. wage
(x13 payments)
MXN 315.04 /day
About the minimum wage
Employer tax
~25-35%
Understand employer tax
Annual leave
12 days
Learn about annual leave
Notice period
No statutory minimum
Termination and notice info
Updated
Sep 2026
The indefinite/open-ended contract (contrato por tiempo indeterminado) is the default and legally presumed employment relationship under Art. 35 LFT unless the nature of the work objectively justifies a fixed term. It provides full statutory protections including severance rights, seniority premium accrual, and profit-sharing (PTU) eligibility.
Fixed-term contracts are permitted only when justified by the temporary nature of the work itself (Art. 35-37 LFT) and cannot cover an ongoing, permanent business need. Courts will re-characterize a fixed-term contract as indefinite if it lacks objective justification or is renewed repeatedly beyond the genuine temporary need.
Day shift: max 8 hours/day (6:00 AM-8:00 PM). Night shift: max 7 hours/day. Mixed shift: max 7.5 hours/day (Art. 60-61 LFT). A 2026 reform will reduce the maximum workweek to 40 hours, phased in from 1 January 2027 (46 hrs) down to 40 hours by 1 January 2030; the 48-hour ceiling remains in force through all of 2026.
Under Art. 39-A/39-B LFT, probation may only be used once per employee with the same employer and only for their first position. If the employer does not terminate in writing before probation ends, the relationship automatically continues as indefinite with full seniority from the start date.
Employers must pay an annual Christmas bonus (Aguinaldo) of at least 15 days' salary, due by 20 December (Art. 87 LFT); prorated for under one year of service. Separately, most employers with taxable profits must distribute a statutory profit-sharing bonus (PTU) of 10% of pre-tax profits by 31 May, capped per employee at 3 months' salary or the average of the last 3 years' PTU.
Art. 7 LFT requires at least 90% of a company's workforce be Mexican nationals; technicians/specialists may be exempted where no qualified Mexican nationals are available. 'Trust employees' (empleados de confianza) are a distinct legal category under Art. 9 LFT with different reinstatement rights on unjustified dismissal.
Employer-side statutory costs (~25-35% of gross salary) paid to IMSS and INFONAVIT across multiple branches (Enfermedad y Maternidad, Invalidez y Vida, Retiro/SAR, Cesantía en Edad Avanzada y Vejez phasing 2020-2030, Riesgos de Trabajo variable by risk class, INFONAVIT 5% flat), plus state payroll tax (ISN) of 1-4%. 30% used as a representative mid-point.
Employee-side statutory IMSS withholdings total approximately 2.78% of the base contribution salary (SBC), separate from progressive income tax (ISR) withholding up to a 35% top marginal rate.
In addition to statutory leave, employees are entitled to the following statutory benefits:
Social security in Mexico is administered by IMSS and funded through joint employer/employee 'cuotas obrero-patronales' on the SBC, capped at 25 UMA/day.
Total employee withholding ≈2.78% of SBC; total employer cost ≈25-35%+ before state ISN.
Occupational risk insurance (Seguro de Riesgos de Trabajo) is funded entirely by the employer through IMSS.
Severance depends on how employment ends:
Mexico requires an annual Christmas bonus (Aguinaldo) under Art. 87 LFT.
Separately, most for-profit employers must distribute a statutory PTU profit-sharing bonus of 10% of taxable profit, generally by 31 May, capped per employee at 3 months' salary or the average of the last 3 years' PTU.
P.S. our team speaks multiple languages and we'd love to chat in your preferred language if requested.
Your employee's hours, time off, holidays, bonuses, and commissions are automatically calculated into payroll. RemoFirst will invoice you in either US Dollars (USD), Euros (EUR), British Pounds (GBP), Canadian Dollars (CAD), Australian Dollars (AUD), or Singapore Dollars (SGD) around the 15th of each month to make sure your employees are paid on time. To make it even easier, you can summarize your entire global team's salaries to aggregate them into one payment (instead of many individual payments).
Unlike full-time employees, contractors work on projects with multiple companies at a given time and are technically self-employed. Full-time employees are solely focused on their employer and usually receive benefits (such as health insurance, equity or stock options, and time off) as an additional form of compensation. While it can be cheaper to work with international contractors instead of paying benefits to a full-time employee, you run the risk of misclassification. It's recommended to work with an EOR for contractor onboarding and payments, so you can know that your international contractors are paid compliantly and on time.
Whenever the employee or employer has a question about, or anything else related to international employment, they can speak with our customer support team to get answers from our team of experts.
