As Christmas holiday chatzkies are appearing on store shelves …. as we make our holiday plans … It’s time to remember our beloved household help and employees (including nuestro querido “muchachas” y “mozos”).

Please plan ahead to pay them their end of the year Aguinaldos and Vacation Pay by at least December 20’th …. and Plan to also give them paid-Vacation days OFF  for the year … Ignore the gringo-myths:   The Aguinaldo is NOT a optional bonus. Our Mexican workers and their families count-on and depend on these critical annual payments owed to them, by law.

Because the Annual vacation pay & Aguinaldo payments are mandatory, you can pay them whenever you want … like even ~NOW~ … so they can enjoy using those $$ for the upcoming holiday sales !

Aguinaldo Calculation:
Basically the Aguinaldo is 15 days of pay. (calculated on a 7 day work wk) – so it formally 2 weeks of pay, plus another day of “Daily Rate Pay”.

Specifically, the annual aguinaldo payment is precisely 15 days of “Daily Rate pay”. … Note that  “Daily Rate pay” is a bit peculiar, because you take their weekly pay, and divide by 7 days.

Example, if your cleaning person is paid $350 pesos each time, for 2 times a week, then their “Daily Rate Pay” is => $700/7 days = $100 per day.

This means a 15 day Aguinaldo for her would be:
15 days x $100/day =    $1,500 Aguinaldo   for the Year

It is not a Christmas bonus.   It is a mandatory wage payment that is due by the 20’th of December.   The aguinaldo is equivalent to at least “15 days wages”, and may be pro-rated if the employee has been working for you for less than a full year.

If the person only worked part time or just some months of the year ... One method is to simply divide their TOTAL annual pay $$  by 365 days … to get the “Daily Rate Pay” … and then MULTIPLY that part-year-adjusted “Daily Rate Pay” by 15 days.

Note that if they work only a part year, and you don’t know the total amount paid during the whole year:
An alternate way of calculating the aguinaldo is determined by multiplying the total days they worked in current year  … times 15 … then divide by 365 days .. and then finally … multiply that value by the daily rate:

For a part-year worker coming in for 2 days a month for 9 months =>
18 days total worked … x  … 15 days of Aguinaldo = 270
270 / 365 = 0.7392 …    0.74 x   $Daily Rate ($100 pesos/day?)   = $ 74 pesos

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Vacation Pay – 2023 Update !

4 pesos

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Vacation Pay – 2023 Update !
Vacation pay starts with a basic minimum payment of 12 days of Daily Rate pay, plus a 25% bonus.** … => Daily Rate pay x 1.25 x # of Vacation Days.

**Further, as of 2023, Mexican labor law requires employers to pay a vacation premium, a bonus of **at least 25 percent of the base salary**, so that vacation days are paid at a 125 percent salary rate at a minimum,

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/global-hr/pages/mexico-paid-vacation-days.aspx

1st year – 12 days of Daily Rate pay**
2 years – 14 days
3 years – 16 days 
4 years – 18 days
5 years – 20 days
6 to 10 years – 22 days
11 to 15 years – 24 days
16 to 20 years – 26 days
21 to 25 years – 28 days
26 to 30 years – 30 days
31 to 36 years – 32 days

**Daily Rate pay is based on a 7 day work-week calculation.   Either divide their weekly pay by 7 to get their Daily Rate pay …  and then …
**Increase that Daily Rate pay by MULTIPLYING it by 1.25 for Vacation Pay calculations.

or .. Calculate the full year pay, and divide by 365 days to get the Daily Rate pay, and Increase that Daily Rate pay by MULTIPLYING it by 1.25 for Vacation Pay calculations.

Happy Holidays !

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See more details at our Full Articles:
https://yucalandia.com/answers-to-common-questions/labor-law-for-household-employees-in-mexico-what-must-we-pay/

… and   https://yucalandia.com/answers-to-common-questions/mexicos-new-2012-labor-law-and-the-effects-on-expats-with-household-help/

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