According to the Federal Labor Law (LFT), employers must pay the bonus before December 20 and the amount cannot be less than 15 days of salary. This is an inalienable right that every person with a subordinate job has in Mexico.
People have one year to enforce the payment of the bonus if they do not receive it in a timely manner. However, failure to comply with this provision could cost the company a penalty of 4,481 pesos (50 times the UMA) at 448,100 pesos (5,000 times the UMA), as stipulated in article 1002 of the LFT.
This year the penalties for not paying the bonus, like the rest of the fines, had an increase of 3.15% due to the increase in the amount of the bonus. Unit of Measure and Update (UMA). At the highest amount, the penalty is 13,700 pesos more expensive than in 2020.
These sanctions are imposed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) after verifying through an inspection the breach of a norm, in this case, the non-payment of the bonus.
For verification of Christmas bonus the authorities carry out inspections of general working conditions, which can be ordinary or extraordinary. The latter are the instrument that makes it easier for the agency to corroborate possible violations in the face of complaints issued by workers, explains Jaime Rodríguez Eguiarte, lead partner of the Labor Practice of the Ibarra, del Paso and Gallego firm.
That is, if a worker receives his bonus untimely or incomplete, you can complain to the STPS for the authority to carry out an inspection and, in case of corroborating non-compliance, sanction the workplace.
“The sanction applies for each affected worker And that is independent of the right of the worker to demand the payment of the Christmas bonus when it has not been covered. One thing is what you owe to the worker and another is the fine that they impose on you ”, says the specialist.
Jaime Rodríguez affirms that it is not common for the authorities to sanction companies for not complying with the bonus. “Normally the bosses pay the bonus. If they don’t have wool, they pay it a little late, but they almost always look for a way to comply with this benefit, because there is no worker to forgive them ”.
There’s not excuse what worths
By law, the bonus cannot be less than 15 days of salary in the case of private sector workers and 40 days for public servants, who can receive the benefit in two parts, half before December 15 and the other half after January 15.
Unlike profit sharing, this benefit is independent of the income that the company had during the year and cannot be substituted with vouchers, gifts or any other material in kind.
The Labor Defense Attorney (Profedet) indicates that the Christmas bonus is a right that has everything subordinate worker whose employment relationship is governed by the Federal Labor Law (LFT). In this sense, the payment corresponds to the base, trust, plant, unionized personnel, for a specific time or season, for an indefinite period, workers subject to probation or initial training, temporary employees, commission agents, among others.
The Profedet It is one of the instances to which workers who did not receive payment of the benefit in time and form, the services are free and people can request advice and guidance on the phone (800) 911-7877 in extensions 44740 and 44741, also through the WhatsApp service on the line (55) 1484-8737 and in the email [email protected].
Jaime Rodríguez recommends that organizations document the Christmas bonus to demonstrate in a labor inspection that it was covered in a timely manner with the benefit.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx