Christmas bonus for maid

A friend recently told me it is obligatory to pay both an alginaldo plus a money Christmas bonus to your workers. Does anyone know if this is a fact? I've never heard of this before - I pay the alginaldo but give a small present right before Christmas.

Your friend is mistaken. Only the alginaldo is required.
You can read the law in English here :http://rollybrook.com/labor_law.htm

Thank you Rolly. I've been in Mexico 12 years and never heard of a second payment at Christmas, although I do give her a present.

Thanks

what is alginaldo? just give xmas bonus in cash. no one does it twice.

The aguinaldo must be paid on or before the 20th of December. The aguinaldo must be paid in cash; gifts, Christmas baskets, and other presents do not fulfill the requirement.

The aguinaldo must equal 15 days of salary. To calculate the amount for a part-time employee, divide the number of days worked during the year past by 365. Multiply that figure by 15 x the daily salary to determine the amount of the aguinaldo.

Example:

If you have an employee who works one day a week for $50 pesos:
52/365 x 15 x 50 = $106.85 pesos

Read more here.

Just another reason to use a maid service versus employing directly IMO.

In addition to Bob comment for the same reason is renting your house through
a rental agency. It is there obligation. I do always give 100Pesos to all the help
and a bottle of booze but my rental company is responsable for the legal stuff.

Z

I would think if the rental company is the "employer" then they would be responsible to cover all the employment obligations. Perhaps Spencer can clarify.

To be totally honest if we could step back in time we would hire a cleaning service over a private housekeeper. We’re extremely happy with her service but the laws here are just too much to deal with. Should one be unfortunate to get a user you’re in for a real costly ride. We believe luck was on our side but having more knowledge this is not a risk we would take again. The laws, to protect the working class, are now working against them. The users are ruining it for the others and greed takes the upper hand once again. :(

I agree Parker. We've been really lucky twice in the past but, this time around, we went with a service. When we were younger, it was no big deal if the housekeeper didn't show up...we'd just do it ourselves. Now, we are a little more dependent on regular help and really like not having to worry about sick days, pregnancy leave etc....the service just sends a replacement. No worries.

Parker wrote:To be totally honest if we could step back in time we would hire a cleaning service over a private housekeeper. We’re extremely happy with her service but the laws here are just too much to deal with. Should one be unfortunate to get a user you’re in for a real costly ride. We believe luck was on our side but having more knowledge this is not a risk we would take again. The laws, to protect the working class, are now working against them. The users are ruining it for the others and greed takes the upper hand once again. :(

A part time employee of ours for 4 years needed money for a family emergency and asked to be cashed out. We called our lawyer, had him do the calculations, draft a finiqauito and viola - done deal. We were surprised as it wasn't very much money at all. So for peace of mind I'd suggest contacting Spencer or a lawyer or accountant with the employees cost/time to see how much it would be to cash them out. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

What is "cashed out"?

I used the term 'cash out' to mean ending his employment. We rehired him the same day as he is a good employee, he just needed some quick pesos. It was his severance pay, vacation pay to date, whatever. The finiaquito lists the cost centers as:

Parte proporcional de aguinaldo
3 meses de salario = 90 days
Prima de antiguedad

He worked 4 hours a week @50 pesos hr. and it came out to about $100 U.S per year.

Termination information and a lot more is included here: http://rollybrook.com/employee-pay.htm

oncesubtle wrote:I used the term 'cash out' to mean ending his employment. We rehired him the same day as he is a good employee, he just needed some quick pesos. It was his severance pay, vacation pay to date, whatever. The finiaquito lists the cost centers as:

Parte proporcional de aguinaldo
3 meses de salario = 90 days
Prima de antiguedad

He worked 4 hours a week @50 pesos hr. and it came out to about $100 U.S per year.

I'm not real clear on this and will read Rolly's website again. Did you pay him the peso equivalent of $100 US or his 3 month salary?

We paid him in pesos and that was a calculation of his weekly hours times pay rate and his length of employment plus his yearly Christmas entitlement pro rated to Nov 11th. The point being; The cost of terminating an employee may be a lot less than most folks realize.

Maybe someone can explain is it 3 months and 20 days, paid per year worked, for severance? Is this for both full-time and part-time?

Let’s say your worker makes 2000 pesos per month and you wish to terminate their employment (not their choice) for ease let’s also say they worked one year. Would the severance be 3 months (6000 pesos) plus 20 days (1350 pesos approximately) =7350 pesos?

An empoyee who quits does is not owed severance pay.

David wrote:An empoyee who quits does is not owed severance pay.

I agree, but what about the other questions about severance pay?

Parker wrote:Maybe someone can explain is it 3 months and 20 days, paid per year worked, for severance? Is this for both full-time and part-time?

Let’s say your worker makes 2000 pesos per month and you wish to terminate their employment (not their choice) for ease let’s also say they worked one year. Would the severance be 3 months (6000 pesos) plus 20 days (1350 pesos approximately) =7350 pesos?

It's best to read all the info on this subject on Rolly's website.

www.rollybrook.com

The labour law calculations are based on a "daily" wage. Your example, Parker, is a bad one because some months have 30 days and others have 31 days and one of them usually has 28 days.

Because the labour law calculations are based on a "daily" wage and you pay your employees ONCE every SEVEN days, to get the "daily" wage you divide their WEEKLY pay by SEVEN.

Say your employee gets 500 pesos a week...Their daily rate is 500/7=71.43 pesos

If calculating the Aguinaldo it's 15 times the daily rate...71.43x15=1071.45 pesos

If calculating a "finiquito" (termination that is your decision) then it would be 90 times the daily rate...90x71.43=6428.7 pesos plus proportional aguinaldo plus vacation pay. THERE IS A CAP to the amount of a finiquito and I have the written labour law paper somewhere if someone needs it.

There are some additional things added to the finiquito...like plus 20 days (calculated same as above) "antiquity pay" for each full year worked and a percentage added to vacation pay etc. etc.

Because of the things highlighted in red, it is worth it to have this done professionally by an accountant or a lawyer (both should have knowledge of the complex labour laws in Mexico). That should cost about 500 pesos (max) and is well worth it so somebody professional is accountable if they screw it up.

My information is from Eva Gonzales in Bucerias 329-298-0738...She is a certified accountant in labour law. Crackerjack!

David wrote:An empoyee who quits does is not owed severance pay.

That is true David. They are, however, owed proportional aguinaldo and any vacation pay owed to them.

Parker wrote: Is this for both full-time and part-time?

The worker is defined as permanent or non-permanent. A person who works part-time on specified days, week after week, year after year for a specific amount of money per week is defined as a permanent employee. As opposed to a plumber, carpenter, painter etc. who works doing a specified job ONCE.

ferret wrote:

David wrote:An empoyee who quits does is not owed severance pay.

That is true David. They are, however, owed proportional aguinaldo and any vacation pay owed to them.

I was addressing the issue of severance pay which, in this case, Oncesubtle did not owe since he did not fire the employee. If my employee needed funds for an emergency I would either a) give it to him/her, or b) loan it to him/her. Much simpler than going through the "termination" process.

David wrote:It's best to read all the info on this subject on Rolly's website.

www.rollybrook.com

I have many times and still had questions but thanks for trying to help.