Hiring and letting go of staff in Rosarito: an employer's guide

Hiring: the written contract, trial period and outsourcing

Working conditions must be in writing, in two copies, one for each side (LFT Art. 24). The contract states the worker's details, CURP and RFC; the type of job (indefinite, fixed-term, seasonal or training); duties, place, hours, pay and payday; rest days, vacations and beneficiaries (Art. 25). Without a written contract the worker keeps all rights and the missing paper counts against the employer (Art. 26). Unless agreed otherwise, the job is indefinite (Art. 35).

• Trial period. Only in indefinite jobs or jobs over 180 days: up to 30 days, or 180 for management and specialised technical or professional roles, with full pay and IMSS (Art. 39-A).
• Initial training contract. Up to three months, or six for management and specialised roles (Art. 39-B).
• Outsourcing. Supplying staff to another business is prohibited (Art. 12). Only specialised services outside your corporate purpose and main activity can be subcontracted, to a contractor in the STPS public register (REPSE), renewed every three years (Arts. 13, 15). Use a written contract; you are jointly liable if the contractor fails its workers (Art. 14).

Working hours, rest days and overtime in 2026

A reform published on 1 May 2026 sets a 40-hour week (Art. 59), reached gradually: 48 hours in 2026, 46 in 2027, 44 in 2028, 42 in 2029 and 40 in 2030, with no cut in pay (transitional articles). The daily maximum is 8 hours for day shifts, 7 at night and 7.5 mixed (Art. 61).

• Overtime is paid double. The weekly limit is 9 hours in 2026, rising to 12 by 2030; up to four more hours a week beyond it may be worked, paid triple. Regular plus overtime hours cannot exceed 12 a day (Arts. 66, 68).
• Rest. One paid rest day for every six worked (Art. 69); work on it is paid double on top of normal pay (Art. 73). Public holidays (Art. 74) worked are also paid double extra (Art. 75).
• Sunday premium. At least 25% extra (Art. 71).
• Time records. An electronic record of each worker's hours (Art. 132-XXXIV), under STPS rules effective 1 January 2027.

Minimum wage, aguinaldo, vacations and PTU

Playas de Rosarito is in the Zona Libre de la Frontera Norte. From 1 January 2026 the minimum wage there is MXN 440.87 a day, about MXN 13,409.80 a month (estimate, at 30.4 days) (CONASAMI resolution, DOF 9-Dec-2025).

• Aguinaldo (year-end bonus): at least 15 days' pay, before 20 December; proportional for less than a year (Art. 87).
• Vacaciones (since the 2023 reform): 12 working days after the first year, plus 2 days a year up to 20 in year five, then 2 more for every five years (22 days in years 6-10). At least 12 days must be continuous (Arts. 76, 78). No cash in place of vacations, except pro rata when the job ends (Art. 79).
• Prima vacacional: at least 25% of the pay for the vacation days (Art. 80).
• PTU (profit sharing): 10% of the renta gravable (taxable income) (Sixth National PTU Commission resolution, DOF 18-Sep-2020), paid within 60 days after the annual tax return is due (Art. 122). Directors and general managers do not share; each share is capped at three months' pay or the three-year average, whichever favours the worker (Art. 127). Exempt, among others: new businesses in their first year (two years for a new product) and businesses with capital below the STPS threshold (Art. 126).

IMSS, INFONAVIT, SAR and payroll taxes

Register with IMSS and report each worker's start, exit and pay changes within five working days (Ley del Seguro Social, Art. 15-I). The employer calculates IMSS contributions and pays them monthly, by the 17th (LSS Art. 39), and keeps payroll records for five years (Art. 15-II). It also pays 2% of the contribution salary for retirement (SAR), old-age contributions that rise by salary band (Art. 168), and 5% of salary to INFONAVIT, the housing fund (Ley del INFONAVIT, Arts. 29-II, 35).

You withhold the employee's ISR and issue a payroll CFDI for each payment (LISR Arts. 96, 99). Baja California's state payroll tax, the Impuesto sobre Remuneraciones al Trabajo Personal, is 4.25% of total pay (Ley de Hacienda del Estado, Art. 151-16), filed quarterly by employers averaging up to 25 workers and monthly by others, by the 25th of the following month (Arts. 151-14, 151-19). Profit sharing, social-welfare benefits and termination payments are excluded (Art. 151-18).

Conciliation first: the 2019 labor justice reform

Since the 2019 reform, workers and employers must try conciliation before suing (Art. 684-B). For most Rosarito businesses that means the Centro de Conciliación Laboral del Estado de Baja California, created by state law in 2020; ask the Centre which office serves your workplace. A short list of industries goes to the federal centre (Art. 527). Without agreement, the case goes to the labor courts (Tribunales Laborales) of the Baja California state judiciary.

• The hearing is set within 15 days of the request, with the employer served at least five days before. An employer who does not appear, in person or through a representative with authority to settle, faces a fine of 50 to 100 UMA (about MXN 5,866-11,731 at the 2026 UMA of MXN 117.31, INEGI) and is treated as unwilling to settle (Art. 684-E).
• The whole procedure should not exceed 45 calendar days (Art. 684-D).
• A dismissed worker has two months to act; filing for conciliation suspends that period (Art. 518).
• Discrimination, harassment, social-security and some other claims skip conciliation (Art. 685 Ter).
• Any settlement must be in writing and ratified before the Centre or the court; a private settlement can be challenged where it waives the worker's rights (Art. 33).

Letting someone go correctly

Article 47 lists the causes for dismissal without liability, among them: false references (within the first 30 days), dishonesty or violence, intentional damage, negligence that endangers safety, harassment, revealing confidential information, more than three unjustified absences in 30 days, disobedience about the contracted work, coming to work drunk or drugged, and a prison sentence that prevents work.

Give the worker a written notice stating the conduct and its dates, in person at the moment of dismissal, or file it with the labor court within five working days with the worker's last known address so the court serves it. Without that notice the dismissal is presumed unjustified, and the worker's two-month period does not start until the worker receives it (Art. 47).

Build a document trail as you go: signed contract, payroll CFDI, attendance records, written warnings, vacation and aguinaldo receipts, IMSS payments. Keep the contract for the job plus one year, and payroll and attendance records for the last year and one year after (Art. 804). A job can also end by mutual agreement (Art. 53-I), in writing and ratified.

Finiquito or liquidación: what is owed when the job ends?

A finiquito settles what the worker already earned and is owed whenever the job ends. A liquidación adds severance (indemnización) when the dismissal is unjustified or cannot be proved.

Estimates only. Final amounts are set by each office, bank, notary or provider at the time of payment.

Household workers (trabajadoras del hogar)

A housekeeper, nanny, caregiver or gardener paid to work at your home, including a second home in Rosarito, is a household worker under the LFT:

• A written contract with the hours, pay, rest, vacations, food and lodging and how the job ends (Art. 331 Ter).
• Registration with IMSS from the first day of work (LFT Art. 337-IV; LSS Arts. 12-IV and 239-C). IMSS calculates the amount; you withhold the worker's share and pay both. Occasional work is treated differently (LSS Art. 239-B).
• A day and a half of weekly rest plus public holidays (Art. 336); live-in workers also get nine hours' night rest and a three-hour daytime break (Art. 333).
• Aguinaldo, vacations and the prima vacacional apply. Household workers do not share in PTU (Art. 127-VI), and the employer may pay severance instead of reinstating (Art. 49-IV).

Employer obligations and their timing

A short calendar for a small employer:

Estimates only. Final amounts are set by each office, bank, notary or provider at the time of payment.

How Rosarito Legal can help

Rosarito Legal, the Rosarito office of Galarza Legal, drafts employment and household-worker contracts in Spanish and English, prepares warnings, dismissal notices and settlements, works out a finiquito or liquidación with you, and represents employers at conciliation and in the labor courts. You pay wages, IMSS, INFONAVIT and taxes directly; the firm does not receive or hold them.

Write to [email protected], call +1 619-568-2424, or book a consultation with Lic. Pati Claudia Galarza (Cédula Profesional 15176510), Blvd. Popotla 3009, Playa Encantada, Playas de Rosarito, B.C. 22713. For U.S. or Canadian tax questions, ask your U.S. or Canadian tax adviser.

Frequently asked questions