New outsourcing agreement in Mexico

After holding several round tables between representatives from the business sectors, workers’ unions and the Mexican Government, last April 5, 2021, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social - STPS) issued Bulletin 04/21, in which an agreement was reached by the parties, including the following important aspects:

• The outsourcing of personnel is prohibited, i.e., services in which personnel are made available to the contracting party.
• Regulations are established for specialized services not covered by the corporate purpose or main line of business of the contracting company.
• Companies whose main line of business is the rendering of services must be entered in the register established to this effect by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.
• A new profit sharing model is proposed based on two modalities:
  • The first limited to a maximum of three months of the employee’s salary; and
  • The second taking into account the average profit sharing received during the last three years by the employee.

The applicable method will be the one that most benefits the employee.

• A 3-month period is provided as of the effective date of the new provisions during which the contractors of outsourcing services must become compliant with the new legislation.

The foregoing confirms the positions of the Mexican Government that we have observed during the previous months, and therefore it is of utmost importance for national and international organizations that do business in Mexico to assess their business model in virtue of the imminent outsourcing reforms and, furthermore, taking into account that the amount of time required to complete the reassessment of the business model and the possible subsequent organizational restructuring may be extensive.

As always, Mazars is ready to aid you in this process or help you if you have any questions or doubts.