MEXICO Law and Practice Contributed by: Mauricio Moreno Rey, Anahí Serrano, Erick Sastré and Karla Fajardo, Cannizzo, Ortiz y Asociados, S.C.
following the date on which any of those causes occurs. Severance Payment Those employees who voluntarily terminate their employment relationship or who are terminated with justified grounds for dismissal are entitled only to a settlement payment ( finiquito ), comprising the pro - portional amounts accrued for the work rendered in favour of the employer (eg, salary up to the date of termination, vacations not taken, vacation bonus, pro - portional Christmas bonus, etc), without being entitled to any severance payment. In all other cases, employees will be entitled to a severance payment consisting of the constitutional indemnity which is integrated with the amount of three months of integrated salary (ie, comprising payments made in cash for daily work, gratuities, bonuses, room and board, commissions, benefits in kind and any other amount or benefit given to employees for their work), as well as a seniority premium consisting of 12 days of salary for each year of service rendered, which is capped at twice the minimum wage currently valid at the termination date of the employment relation - ship. It is recommended, in any case, to obtain external professional advice in order to determine whether any of the causes for termination set forth in the law have occurred, and to determine how they may be proven in an eventual labour proceeding initiated by the employee, as well as for the calculation of the amounts to be paid in their favour due to the termina - tion and, finally, to determine the manner in which it is advisable to document the termination of the labour relationship. 7.3 Dismissal for (Serious) Cause In Mexico, there are no special or different proce - dures for summary dismissals or dismissals for seri- ous cause. All types of terminations are processed in terms of the provisions set out in 7.1 Grounds for Termination and 7.2 Notice Periods . 7.4 Termination Agreements In terms of the Federal Labour Law, one of the grounds for termination provided by law (Article 53) is the
mutual consent of the parties; therefore, termination agreements signed by both employer and employee are permitted and a common practice. Although there are no specific formalities or require - ments with which these agreements must comply, taking an approach arising from a systematic inter - pretation of several articles of the Federal Labour Law, the common practice is that such agreements usually include mutual release of liability for both parties. In addition, such agreements must be executed in writ - ing and ratified before local or federal conciliation and arbitration centres, as appropriate. 7.5 Protected Categories of Employee In Mexico, there are no specific categories of employ - ees who cannot be dismissed. In the event that the employer does not prove the exist - ence of any of the grounds for justified termination of the labour relationship, the employee will be entitled to demand before the competent labour authority, the reinstatement in their job (or, as the case may be, the payment of the corresponding severance), the pay - ment of wages due for up to a maximum period of 12 months, plus the corresponding interest thereon, if applicable, the payment of seniority premium, vaca - tions not enjoyed by the employee, vacation bonus, Christmas bonus and the constitutional indemnity. 8.2 Anti-Discrimination In terms of the provisions of the Federal Labour Law, as well as other Mexican laws on discrimination, employers may not establish any conditions that may result in discrimination among employees based on ethnic or national origin, gender, age, disability, social status, health conditions, religion, immigration status, opinions, sexual preferences or marital status, or any other condition that violates human dignity. Therefore, neither employers nor their representatives may refuse to hire employees based on the above-mentioned grounds for discrimination. 8. Disputes 8.1 Wrongful Dismissal
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