Employee Attendance Control Form Mexico (Control de Asistencia)

An Employee Attendance Control Form Mexico (Control de Asistencia) is the formal record maintained by Mexican employers to document each worker's daily presence, punctuality, authorized absences, and permissions in the workplace, as required under Article 804 of the Ley Federal del Trabajo (LFT), published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 1 April 1970. Article 804 LFT establishes an employer's obligation to retain specific categories of employment documentation — including attendance records, payroll receipts, and working hours logs — for at least one year after each employment relationship ends, and to produce these documents upon demand during STPS Inspección del Trabajo audits or Tribunal Laboral proceedings.

The constitutional basis for employee attendance recording in Mexico derives from Article 123, Apartado A, Fraction II of the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, which guarantees that the maximum workday and rest day entitlements are enforced. The attendance record is the primary instrument by which the Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social (STPS) verifies compliance with Articles 59 through 75 LFT governing working days, rest periods, and mandatory holidays. When an STPS Inspección del Trabajo auditor visits a workplace under Articles 540 through 550 LFT, the attendance control form is among the first documents requested — failure to produce it triggers a presumption of non-compliance and fines under Article 994 LFT.

The Control de Asistencia differs from the Registro de Jornada Laboral (daily working hours log under Article 63 LFT) in scope and purpose: the working hours log records the precise entry, exit, and rest times for overtime calculation purposes, while the attendance control form records the binary presence or absence of each worker on each calendar day, categorising absences by their legal nature — justified (justificada) or unjustified (injustificada) — and tracking permissions granted by the employer (permisos con o sin goce de sueldo). Both records are required by the LFT and serve complementary functions in payroll processing and dispute resolution.

The legal classification of absences (inasistencias) is significant under the Ley Federal del Trabajo. Article 47, Fraction X LFT permits the employer to rescind the employment contract without liability (rescisión sin responsabilidad) when a worker accumulates more than three unjustified absences in a 30-day period. An unjustified absence is one for which the worker has not provided a legally recognized justification — IMSS sick leave certificate (ST-7 under Article 96 LSS), maternity leave certificate, family emergency documented by official records, or a permission authorized by the employer under the Reglamento Interior de Trabajo or collective bargaining agreement (contrato colectivo de trabajo). The attendance control form is the documentary foundation for any justificada rescisión proceeding before the CFCRL (Centro Federal de Conciliación y Registro Laboral) or Tribunales Laborales.

Absences also affect the calculation of proportional benefits. Under Article 76 LFT, vacation entitlement accrues based on days worked — a worker with three or more unjustified absences in a year may have their vacation proportionally reduced. The aguinaldo (Christmas bonus) under Article 87 LFT is calculated on the days worked in the year — unjustified absences reduce the proportional aguinaldo entitlement. PTU (Participación de los Trabajadores en las Utilidades) under Articles 117 through 131 LFT is distributed partly based on days worked in the fiscal year — accurate attendance records are therefore essential for correct PTU calculations.

Employers with 20 or more workers are required under Article 422 LFT to establish Internal Work Regulations (Reglamento Interior de Trabajo) which must specify the procedures for recording attendance, the treatment of justified and unjustified absences, and the permission request process. These regulations must be filed with and registered by the STPS Delegación del Trabajo under Article 424 LFT. The attendance control form must be consistent with the Reglamento Interior de Trabajo provisions to be enforceable.

The attendance record also feeds into IMSS compliance: under Article 31 of the Ley del Seguro Social and the RACERF (Reglamento de la Ley del Seguro Social en Materia de Afiliación, Clasificación de Empresas, Recaudación y Fiscalización), employers must report worker absences that affect IMSS quota calculations. For workers on unpaid leave (licencia sin goce de sueldo) or with IMSS-certified incapacity, the employer must file a temporary suspension (Baja Temporal) with the IMSS through the SUA (Sistema Único de Autodeterminación) to suspend quota obligations for the absent period.

An Employee Attendance Control Form Mexico is required whenever a Mexican employer must maintain Article 804 LFT compliant employment documentation, manage payroll deductions for unjustified absences, document the basis for disciplinary actions, or prepare for STPS Inspección del Trabajo audits.

The attendance form is required for all employers with workers employed under the Ley Federal del Trabajo, regardless of sector, size, or whether the establishment operates formal HR software. While large enterprises typically use biometric attendance systems (relojes checadores biométricos) that automatically generate digital logs, the data must still be organized into a format that satisfies STPS inspection requirements and can be produced as evidence in legal proceedings — the attendance control form, whether digital or paper, serves this function.

The form is needed for payroll processing: under LISR art. 99, employers must withhold ISR and report wage payments to the SAT — the attendance record confirms the days worked in each pay period, which determines the proportional salary for daily-rate workers (trabajadores por día) and the deductions for unjustified absences from fixed-salary workers (trabajadores por salario fijo). Under NOM-035-STPS-2018, the employer must also monitor workers for indicators of work-related stress and burnout, which requires correlating absence patterns with workload data from the attendance records.

The document is needed when an employer must justify a disciplinary action or termination for cause (rescisión con causa justificada) under Article 47 LFT. Clause X of Article 47 LFT authorizes dismissal for more than three unjustified absences in 30 days — but the employer must produce signed attendance records showing the uncovered absences when filing the rescisión notification with the CFCRL and when defending the termination before the Tribunales Laborales. Without signed records, the Tribunal may require the employer to prove the absences under Article 784 LFT's burden of proof shift.

The form is required during STPS inspections to demonstrate compliance with mandatory public holiday observance under Article 74 LFT. The inspector will cross-reference the attendance record with a calendar of national holidays to verify that workers were not required to work on mandatory rest days without receiving the double or triple premium under Articles 73 and 75 LFT.

The attendance record is also required for calculating proportional benefits at the time of employment termination — whether the worker resigns (renuncia voluntaria), is terminated with cause (rescisión con causa), or is dismissed without cause (despido injustificado). The finiquito calculation for accrued vacation days under Articles 76–80 LFT and the proportional aguinaldo under Article 87 LFT both require the precise number of days worked in the accrual period, which the attendance record provides.

A valid Employee Attendance Control Form Mexico under Ley Federal del Trabajo art. 804 must contain the following essential elements to be admissible in STPS inspections and Tribunal Laboral proceedings and to support accurate payroll processing.

Worker and Department Identification: The worker's full legal name (nombre completo), employee number or personnel code (número de empleado), job title (puesto), department (departamento or área), and the name of the direct supervisor (supervisor inmediato). Where the employer operates multiple work centres (centros de trabajo) under different IMSS Registros Patronales, the specific work centre must be identified, as attendance records feed into the SUA reporting obligations for each Registro Patronal separately.

Period Coverage: The specific pay period or month (período o mes) covered by the form, with start date (fecha de inicio) and end date (fecha de término) in DD/MM/YYYY format. Mexican payroll periods are typically weekly (semanal), biweekly (quincenal), or monthly (mensual) — the attendance form period must match the payroll cycle to enable seamless integration with the recibo de nómina issued under Article 132, Fraction VII LFT and LISR art. 99.

Daily Attendance Columns: For each calendar day in the period, a column (columna) recording one of the following status codes — Asistencia (A): present and working; Descanso (D): scheduled rest day under Article 69 LFT; Vacaciones (V): authorized paid vacation under Articles 76–80 LFT; Incapacidad IMSS (I): IMSS-certified sick leave with ST-7 reference; Permiso con goce de sueldo (PCS): authorized paid leave; Permiso sin goce de sueldo (PSG): authorized unpaid leave; Falta justificada (FJ): justified absence with supporting documentation; Falta injustificada (FI): unjustified absence subject to salary deduction; Día festivo (DF): mandatory holiday under Article 74 LFT; Retardo (R): late arrival (tardanza) as defined in the Reglamento Interior de Trabajo.

Justification References: For any non-standard status code (incapacidad, permiso, falta justificada), a reference field (referencia) documenting the supporting document — ST-7 certificate number and date for IMSS incapacities; permission slip (vale de permiso) number for authorized leaves; official document reference for family emergencies or bereavement (fallecimiento de familiar) recognized under the contrato colectivo de trabajo or Reglamento Interior de Trabajo.

Tardiness Records: A tardanza (late arrival) column recording the number of minutes late for each affected day, with a cumulative monthly total. Most Reglamentos Interiores de Trabajo provide that three tardanzas of more than 15 minutes each within a calendar month equal one unjustified absence for salary deduction and disciplinary purposes — the attendance form must track this accumulation to support any disciplinary warning (amonestación) issued under the graduated disciplinary process.

Summary Row: A monthly or period summary (resumen del período) totalling: days present (días de asistencia), rest days (días de descanso), vacation days (días de vacaciones), IMSS incapacity days (días de incapacidad IMSS), paid permission days (días de permiso con goce de sueldo), unpaid permission days (días de permiso sin goce de sueldo), justified absences (faltas justificadas), unjustified absences (faltas injustificadas), and mandatory holidays (días festivos). This summary feeds directly into the payroll calculation and the proportional benefit accrual calculations.

Worker and Supervisor Acknowledgment: The worker's signature or fingerprint (firma o huella digital) at the end of the period confirming the accuracy of the recorded attendance, and the supervisor's or HR representative's countersignature certifying the record. Under Article 804 LFT and Article 784 LFT's burden of proof rules, signed records carry full evidentiary weight before the Tribunales Laborales. Electronic records with qualified electronic signatures (firma electrónica avanzada — FEA) issued by the SAT are admissible under Código de Comercio arts. 89–94.

ISR and IMSS Deduction Notes: A notation field for salary deductions (deducciones) corresponding to unjustified absences, late arrivals, and unpaid permissions, cross-referenced to the payroll receipt (recibo de nómina). This ensures that the attendance record and the payroll record are reconcilable — a key requirement during STPS and IMSS joint inspections that review both sets of records simultaneously.

Forms-legal.com provides this Employee Attendance Control Form Mexico as a practical compliance tool for LFT art. 804 documentation requirements. Employers should verify that the form's status codes and tardiness rules are consistent with their Reglamento Interior de Trabajo and any applicable contrato colectivo de trabajo. All attendance disputes should be resolved with guidance from a licensed Licenciado en Derecho or abogado laboralista before initiating disciplinary proceedings under Article 47 LFT.