NOM-037: Mexico’s new telework/home office regulation

On 08 June 2023, the new Official Mexican Standard NOM-037-STPS-2023 Telework-Safety and Health Conditions at Work (NOM-037) was published, and will become effective in December 2023. 

In NOM-037, the obligations established for employers are:

1. Have an updated list of workers under telework modality.
   
   
2. Inform workers under telework modality about the risks related to telework and possible exposure to risk factors or agents.
   
   
3. Have a checklist of telework health and safety conditions to verify that health and safety conditions in the remote workplace are met.
   
   
4. Support the Safety and Hygiene Commission in validating the health and safety conditions checklist.
   
   
5. Establish mechanisms for the reversibility of telework modality to on-site work should the employee working remotely inform the employer of any alteration of health and safety conditions at the telework location.

NOM-037 obligations of workers are:

1. Provide the Safety and Hygiene Commission, if the worker agrees, with written permission for a physical inspection of the health and safety conditions in the workplace.
   
   
2. Inform the employer and the Safety and Hygiene Commission of any alteration to workplace conditions that prevents the development or continuation of telework, including severe traumatic events they may have witnessed or suffered in connection with, or in the course of their work.
   
   
3. Safeguard and keep in good condition any equipment (including computer equipment), materials, tools, or ergonomic furniture that, if applicable, and in accordance with the needs of their position or activity, are provided by the employer to perform work remotely.
   
   
4. Inform the employer in writing, and in advance, of any permanent or temporary change of address, different from the previously agreed remote workplace.

Some other legal key considerations are:

• According to NOM-037, home office workers must have a designated space to work at home, in order to comply with the new guidelines.
  
  
• NOM-037 will become effective in December 2023.
  
  
• Failure to comply with NOM-037 obligations could result in fines ranging from UMA 50 to UMA 5,000, based on non-compliance with the health and hygiene obligations set forth in the federal labour law.

NOM-037 brings with it new requirements and practical challenges for both employers and workers, as well as for the authorities in the exercise of their functions. Due to its very nature, correct compliance with the new regulations can be complex, which is why it will be of great interest to analyse the ways and mechanisms that both employers and the Mexican labour authorities use to properly implement the new regulations, particularly regarding review and compliance with the new regulatory provisions.

NOM-037 is a step forward in labour and social security matters for workers in Mexico. Let us hope that employers and the authorities are up to the task of complying with their new obligations.

Prof Sergio Guerrero Rosas, Managing Director at Guerrero y Santana, has over 25 years’ experience advising companies from SMEs to multinationals, as well as individuals, on tax and estate planning. He is also Global Vice Chair of the GGI Trust & Estate Planning (TEP) Practice Group.

Ana Livia Ruiz Velasco started working at Guerrero y Santana in 2021, she is in charge of the legal area specifically in the corporate and labor area; she is a lawyer graduated from the Universidad Panamericana Campus Guadalajara and has international courses in Human Rights taught by the Université Jean Moulin Lyon lll in France.