On January 15, 2026, a Decree was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation (“DOF”) reforming, adding to, and repealing various provisions of different legal frameworks in Mexico. This Decree introduces cross-cutting changes to strengthen substantive equality and prevent, address, and eradicate violence against women. For private sector employers, the most significant adjustments to the Federal Labor Law (“LFT”) reinforce the duty to ensure a work environment free of discrimination and violence and impose an explicit obligation on employers to train their staff to prevent and eliminate violence against women.
The Decree will enter into force on the business day following its publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), that is, on January 16, 2026. Additionally, the authorities of the three levels of government have 180 business days to make the legislative and regulatory adjustments and implement what is necessary for its compliance.
The reform to the Federal Labor Law (LFT) reinforces the objective of labor standards to promote decent work, stipulating that it must take place in an environment free from discrimination and violence, with full respect for human rights, and with recognition of the differences between women and men to achieve their substantive equality before the law. It establishes that both workers and employers must contribute to maintaining a work environment free from discrimination and violence against women.
Specifically, employers must train their staff to prevent and eliminate violence against women. It's important to remember that the Federal Labor Law (LFT) requires companies with more than 50 employees to establish Joint Training, Skills Development, and Productivity Committees, composed of an equal number of representatives from both workers and employers. These committees are responsible for, among other things, implementing training and skills development systems and programs for employees.
Companies with up to 50 employees would comply by providing the programs established for this purpose by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, carrying out the training related to them.
It will be important to review internal processes in order to make the necessary modifications or adjustments to comply with this new specific training obligation, incorporating specific modules to prevent and eliminate violence against women in the corresponding program, with a focus on substantive equality and a gender perspective, determining the timing of this training, relating it to the protocol to prevent discrimination based on gender and the handling of cases of violence and sexual harassment and the prevention of psychosocial risk factors and workplace violence, as well as the mechanisms that must be implemented for receiving complaints about practices contrary to a favorable organizational environment and for reporting acts of workplace violence.
In any case, the plans, programs, content and evidence of delivery to workers must be documented, as appropriate, in order to avoid the imposition of sanctions by the labor authorities, reinforcing the need to have effective protocols and action plans for prevention, attention and sanction.
Likewise, the Decree publishes various rules to guide public policies and actions to guarantee women's right to a life free of violence, promoting cultural changes and effective access to justice with a gender perspective, which anticipates greater scrutiny of internal prevention and response practices in the workplace.
The combination of the employer training obligation and the reinforced standard of a violence- and discrimination-free environment raises the threshold of due diligence required, so it is foreseeable that the authorities will pay greater attention to the existence and effectiveness of training and protocols in the workplace.
At S+S we are available to discuss the implications of this reform and to support you in complying with it.
