lakeside7 Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 A Mexican gardener friend has been dismissed and feel that he has not received sufficient compensation. Is there a union labor lawyer in Chapala that he can talk to..or should he talk with Spencer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Posted March 30, 2015 Report Share Posted March 30, 2015 Did he sign the documents for his finiquito (sic)...ie.his severance pay.? There is a fairly straight forward formula based on his salary and time employed...Best to check with Spencer as to his exact termination pay and entitlement... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geeser Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 If the gardener was part time he truly doesn't qualify for severance. It the employer was a Mexican national it is pretty hopeless as they know the law. If the employer was a gringo or Canadian he can be bullyed into paying easily. There is not a family in Guadalajara that pays severance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natasha Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 Beg to differ with you, Geezer. Formula is based on hours worked and salary paid per week, and is very much designed for the part-time person who has no access to social benefits at retirement. Whether it gets PAID is another matter..... There is an office in Chapala that takes the side of the workers in these types of disputes. Sorry, I don't know what it's called, or how you get there. But I'm sure they could send him to the right place if he asked at Chapala City Hall. A friend's maid went to them when she felt (wrongfully so) that she was not being offered her correct finiquito. The amount the "office" rep demanded was outrageous based on the exact prescibed formula (and was arbitrated to less than the maid wanted, but more than she deserved.....). But it sure would be a good place for the gardener to start! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmh Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 I know Mexican who have paid severance and he is a lawyer so maybe there are exceptions. The office is the labor board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sue Posted March 31, 2015 Report Share Posted March 31, 2015 If you sell a house the Notario wants to see proof that you have paid your maid and or gardener severance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeb Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 Well, all this is news to me. To clarify, if you have someone work on your yard, you are obligated to pay benefits and severance because there is a union???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sue Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 I do not know about a Union but there are laws to protect employees full and part time.When you hire someone to work for you you are taking on an obligation and one of them is that they are entitled to severance pay. The rules are very clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REC Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 Nothing to do with a union but as Natasha says very clearly established labor law designed to protect workers - most definitely covers part time workers. Also agree with Sue. When we bought our house the notario wanted to see written documentation that the previous maid and gardener had been paid what was due. Our real estate agent also made sure that we got copies of those documents in case a previous employee came to us seeking any type of payment. And as Sue says the rules seem very clear. However, I know of several situations where this was not done "by the book". Someone might get away with it but that doesn't make it legal - much less right. Rolly is no longer with us but his website is still a great source of information - scroll down to Termination at the bottom of this page on his site. http://rollybrook.com/employee-pay.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVGRINGO Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 If you hire someone for a single job or small project as an independent contractor, there is no worry. However, if you hire someone to do a repetitive job, as a maid or gardener, etc. on a regular basis, weekly, monthly, etc., then you are obligated to severance, vacation pay, aquinaldo, holiday pay, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Gruenwald Posted April 3, 2015 Report Share Posted April 3, 2015 There is so much mis-information going around lakeside on this topic its really kind of sad. The finiquito (when you terminate them, with chance of re-hire, house sale for example) laws in Mexico, as well as the liquidación (when you send them packing for good) laws were designed for full time workers. Gardeners and maids who either live in (usually) or work full time on a property. Full-time gardeners makes significantly less than most gardeners around here, usually somewhere between 3000 and 5000 pesos a MONTH, often they live on the property rent-free in exchange for a lesser salary and occasionally they even get food from the owners. These people, when terminated, have to start from scratch and thus will need months to adapt. Liquidación is calculated for them, so when you calculate the liquidación for someone who was making $3000 a month, you should specifiy if that was all he was making or you were one of 10 houses he was doing. Most gardeners around Chapala and Ajijic work on an American model. They will do your yard two hours a day, three days a week, and charge you maybe $500 pesos a week. That's two hundred pesos a month. However, they are not doing only your house, they are doing 9 houses at the same time. So they are making 18,000 pesos a week (this number can vary obviously, but you get the point). They are not working for a monthly or bi-weekly wage, they are basically getting an hourly wage, and they do not have a single employee, they have nine. These guys are not entitled to the same liquidation as a full time employee, because when you fire them, or sell your house, they are only loosing 1/9th of their income (or whatever the breakdown was) and won't be on the street for months looking for new work. The problem is many people at lakeside (normally gringos and canucks, but also some tapatios) do not understand this and just have their or realtor or accountant calculate their severance pay, and have been WAAAY over paying. So now many gardeners and maids think they are entitled to way more than they really are. To make matters worse, a lot of the pseudo-lawyers around here will egg them on with the hopes of scaring a few bucks out of a former (often expat) employer. So when calculating your finiquito, please make sure it's done right. The calculation should not be done by a realtor, or by a notario, it is a licensed accountant (contador) that should be doing. This accountant needs to know they time worked by the employee (i.e. when you hired him), how much he made per week, was he hourly or did he receive a salary, were you his only employment, and most importantly how many hours a week he worked, others they will assume he was full time YOUR employee only. Hope this helps... I am not a lawyer, or an accountant, but I have helped many of my clients through terminating their help upon a house sale. Cheers, Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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