On February 24th, 2017, the decree by which several sections of articles 107 and 123 of the Mexican Constitution ("Political Constitution of the United Mexican States") are amended in connection to the labor justice system, was published in the Official Federal Gazette.
The main purpose of these amendments is to transform the labor justice system and its procedures. The disputes or conflicts arising between employees and employers will be resolved by Labor Courts which will be part of the Federal or State Government´s Judicial Branch.
The above means that the Labor Boards are suppressed and the Labor Courts are created in stead. Thus, the labor resolutions formerly called "laudos", from now on will be referred to as resolutions or sentences.
On the other hand, this amendment bounds employees and employers to attend a conciliatory mediation hearing prior to the initiation of the judiciary proceedings before the Labor Court.
At the local / State level, such settlement mediation hearing will take place before the "Conciliation and Mediation Centre", and at the Federal level, before a decentralized government entity.
In either of such cases, the conciliatory stage will consist of one settlement hearing set on a specific date, and there from, will take place upon party´s request. The Law will determine the procedure that must be followed in the conciliatory stage.
The decentralized entity mentioned in the paragraph above, will also be responsible for the deposit and registry of all Collective Bargaining Agreements and Union Organizations.
Based on the second transitory article of this decree, the Federal Congress and the State Legislatures will have one year as off the date of publication to make the necessary legal adjustments for the implementation of the Constitutional amendments.
In the meantime, the Labor Boards and the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry will continue to look after the disputes or conflicts arising between employees and employers.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
