LFT Capítulo IX Bis — algorithmic work-management policy and human review for digital-platform workers
Binds Natural or legal persons that operate or manage digital platforms assigning tasks, services or jobs to workers in Mexico, in their capacity as employer, where the service requires the worker's physical presence (Art. 291-A/291-B); users, consumers or beneficiaries ordering through the app are not employers. Impact tier: enterprise (platform operators), with duties owed to every platform worker.. Chapter IX Bis of the Ley Federal del Trabajo, added by the decree published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación (Edición Vespertina) of 24 December 2024, treats work mediated by a digital platform that requires the worker's physical presence as a subordinate employment relationship (Art. 291-A) and regulates the algorithm that runs it. Art. 291-J requires the rules for assigning tasks, services or jobs through algorithms or analogous mechanisms to be transparent, clear and known to every platform worker, defines an algorithm as a decision-making system that exercises command and supervision over the worker in an automated or analogous way, and requires the platform to produce an 'algorithmic work-management policy' document in plain language covering (I) the consequences of complying or not complying with instructions, including expected waiting, travel and service times; (II) the consequences and impact of third-party ratings; (III) the incentives and penalties used to influence intensity, quality, frequency, timing or pace of work; (IV) any categories whose membership affects task allocation and their general rules; and (V) any other criteria feeding algorithmic decisions, including those affecting access to future tasks, bonuses or sanctions. That policy forms part of the employment contract, has to be known at the start of the relationship and re-accepted on any change, and the algorithm has to be reasonable in its requirements, not endanger the worker's health or integrity, and not operate as a factor of discrimination. Art. 291-P separately requires platforms to provide a channel to review decisions that affect or interrupt a worker's connection or access to the platform, and requires that channel to be run by staff with autonomy and review power — expressly not by algorithms or similar mechanisms; deactivation without a written notice stating the conduct relied on, accompanied by a detailed task, connection-time and rating report, is void.
Commencement is on the face of the decree: Transitorio Primero of the DOF decree of 24 December 2024 provides that it enters into force 180 days after publication, i.e. 22 June 2025. Text read in the Cámara de Diputados reproduction of the DOF Edición Vespertina of 24 December 2024 (LFT_ref49_24dic24.pdf) and cross-checked against the consolidated LFT (Última Reforma DOF 14-05-2026), where Arts. 291-A to 291-Q and Art. 997-B all carry the note 'Artículo adicionado DOF 24-12-2024'. Transitorio Segundo required IMSS/INFONAVIT to publish general rules for an obligatory pilot on social-security enrolment (Art. 291-K V and VI) within 5 days of entry into force; that pilot affects the enrolment duties only, not the Art. 291-J algorithmic-policy or Art. 291-P human-review duties, which apply from 22 June 2025 without a pilot phase. Distinct from mx-lft-lfda, which is the May 2026 performer-voice/image AI reform of the same statute. This is Mexico's peer of the CAC Algorithmic Recommendation Provisions Art. 20 tracked at cn-algo-recommendation.
Stated maximum penalty — Art. 997-B LFT (added DOF 24-12-2024), applied by the labour authorities and independent of any sanction under other laws: 1,000 to 25,000 times the Unidad de Medida y Actualización (UMA) for failing to issue the algorithmic work-management policy of Art. 291-J or to notify changes to it; 500 to 25,000 UMA for failing to establish the Art. 291-P review mechanisms; 2,000 to 25,000 UMA for not registering the model contract under Art. 291-G; and 250 to 5,000 UMA for breach of the special employer duties in Art. 291-K. The UMA is set annually by INEGI, so the peso value of each band moves each February.