Leave by country / Mexico
Mexico annual leave entitlement
How much paid leave people in Mexico get, what happens to unused days, and what you owe when someone leaves — in plain English, whether you run a team there or work on one.
Mexico guarantees at least 12 working days of paid vacation after the first year of service, rising by two days a year to 20 in the fifth year and then by two days every five years, under Article 76 of the Ley Federal del Trabajo as reformed in 2023, plus a vacation premium of at least 25%. Proportional untaken vacation and the premium are paid out when employment ends.
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What the law actually says
Since the “vacaciones dignas” reform took effect on 1 January 2023, employees with more than one year of service are entitled to at least 12 working days of paid vacation, rising by two days for each further year to 20 days in the fifth year and then by two days for every five years of service. At least 12 days must be available to take consecutively unless the employee chooses otherwise. Article 80 adds a vacation premium (prima vacacional) of at least 25% of the salary paid for the vacation days.
Worth knowing: Vacation must be granted within six months after the anniversary date, and the right to claim it prescribes one year after that, so unused days should not accumulate for long. On termination, proportional vacation and the 25% premium for the current year are part of the finiquito.
What happens to unused leave in Mexico
Mexican law requires vacation to be granted within the six months following the anniversary on which it was earned, and the employee’s right to claim untaken days prescribes one year after that period; vacation cannot be replaced by cash while the relationship continues. When employment ends, the proportional vacation days for the current year and the 25% vacation premium are paid in the final settlement, together with any vacation already due and not taken.
When employment ends, the untaken balance must be paid. This is the rule across the European Union and Australia, and it is the sharpest contrast with the United States, where whether unused time is paid out depends entirely on which state the employee works in.
If you run a team in Mexico
- Write the entitlement into every contract. At least 12 days; more is fine, less is void. Collective agreements may add to it.
- Track accrual and carryover to the day, with a record of every approval. When someone leaves, the untaken balance is money you owe, and you will need to show how you got to the number.
- Budget for the payout. Every unused day on the books is a liability at that person's current pay rate — it does not disappear at year end.
If you work in Mexico
- Check your contract gives at least 12 days. Anything less is unenforceable.
- Keep your own record of approved leave. Payroll systems get changed; your notes don't.
- When you leave, untaken statutory leave must be paid out. It cannot be forfeited.
Countries with the same 12-day minimum
Calculating an employee's balance
Entitlement is the starting point; the working number is what an individual has actually accrued at a given date. Our accrual calculator converts an annual entitlement into a per-pay-period figure and a current balance.
Tracking Mexico leave correctly
Because untaken leave is money the employer owes, the balance has to be provable. Spreadsheets fail at exactly the moment they matter — when someone disputes what they were owed on their last day and nobody can reconstruct the record.
For a single-country team, Leavo handles Mexico accrual rules, carryover and approvals with a full audit trail. If you employ people in more than one country, statutory entitlements, carryover rules and payout obligations differ in every one — that is the case for a platform like Deel that handles multi-country employment rather than leave alone. We compare the options in our leave management software guide.
Mexico annual leave: common questions
How many paid annual leave days are employees entitled to in Mexico?
12 working days is the statutory minimum in Mexico, equivalent to 2.4 weeks on a five-day working week, under Ley Federal del Trabajo, Arts. 76 and 80 (as reformed 27 December 2022). Employers and collective agreements may grant more, never less.
Must unused annual leave be paid out when employment ends in Mexico?
Yes. Payment in lieu of untaken statutory leave is required when the employment relationship ends in Mexico. During employment, statutory leave must be taken as time off and cannot be exchanged for cash.
Can an employer in Mexico refuse a leave request?
An employer can usually influence when leave is taken for operational reasons, but cannot deny the entitlement itself. The right to the minimum number of days is statutory and cannot be contracted away.
Do public holidays count towards the 12-day entitlement in Mexico?
No. Public holidays are separate from the 12-day statutory annual leave entitlement in Mexico.
Source
Primary source: Ley Federal del Trabajo, Arts. 76 and 80 (as reformed 27 December 2022). Statutory minimums change, and collective agreements frequently exceed them — confirm against the current text before acting. See our methodology.