Paternity Leave Application Mexico (Solicitud de Permiso de Paternidad)

A Paternity Leave Application Mexico (Solicitud de Permiso de Paternidad) is a formal written notification submitted by a male trabajador (worker) or non-birthing parent to their patron (employer) requesting the five days of paid paternity leave guaranteed under Article 132, Fraction XXVII-bis of the Ley Federal del Trabajo (LFT) — published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 1 April 1970 and amended to include paternity rights. The document notifies the employer of the child's birth or adoption, requests authorization for the five consecutive paid working days of leave, and creates the written record required for payroll and STPS compliance under Article 804 LFT.

The constitutional framework for paternity leave in Mexico derives from Article 123, Apartado A of the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos of 5 February 1917, read alongside the international obligations undertaken by Mexico through the ratification of International Labour Organization (OIT) Convention No. 156 on Workers with Family Responsibilities and Convention No. 183 on Maternity Protection. The Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social (STPS) administers the enforcement of Article 132 LFT obligations, and the Inspección del Trabajo may request production of paternity leave authorization records during employer audits.

Article 132, Fraction XXVII-bis LFT establishes the employer's obligation to grant male workers and adoptive fathers five working days of paid leave upon the birth of a child or upon the adoption of an infant. The five-day period is calculated in working days (días hábiles), excluding Sundays and mandatory public holidays listed in Article 74 LFT. The leave must be granted with full salary — the employer cannot discount the five days from the worker's vacation entitlement or aguinaldo pro-rata — and the worker retains all employment rights and seniority during the leave period. Unlike maternity leave under Article 170 LFT, paternity leave does not trigger a specific IMSS subsidy under the Ley del Seguro Social: the employer bears the full salary cost of the five days.

Mexico's five-day paternity leave period under Article 132 Fraction XXVII-bis LFT is notably shorter than the leave periods established in several comparable Latin American jurisdictions and by international organizations. The Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT) has recommended expanding paternity leave as a tool for promoting gender equality in domestic care responsibilities. Several legislative initiatives have been presented before the Cámara de Diputados and the Senado de la República seeking to extend paternity leave in Mexico to two weeks or longer — though as of 2025, five working days remains the statutory minimum for private-sector workers under the LFT.

For public-sector workers covered by the Ley Federal de los Trabajadores al Servicio del Estado (LFTSE, Apartado B of Article 123) and the ISSSTE (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado), paternity leave is governed by Article 40 LFTSE and the applicable ISSSTE regulations, which generally provide a comparable five-day entitlement. State government workers may be subject to more generous state-level regulations depending on the applicable ley burocrática of each entidad federativa.

Employers may voluntarily grant additional paternity leave beyond the five-day statutory minimum as a prestación superior a la ley — a superior benefit that, once granted and established as a general practice, cannot be reduced unilaterally under Article 57 LFT. Several major Mexican employers — particularly multinational companies operating under T-MEC (Tratado entre México, Estados Unidos y Canadá, in force 1 July 2020) and companies seeking certifications under the Norma Mexicana NMX-R-025-SCFI-2015 (Igualdad Laboral y No Discriminación) — offer extended paternity leave of two to four weeks as part of their gender equality and family-friendly workplace policies.

The Solicitud de Permiso de Paternidad documents the worker's entitlement, the specific dates of the five-day leave, and the supporting birth or adoption documentation — creating the paper trail required for STPS compliance, payroll processing, and any future verification by the Inspección del Trabajo.

A Paternity Leave Application Mexico is needed immediately following the birth of a child or the commencement of an adoption process, and must be submitted to the employer as promptly as possible to allow the payroll and scheduling adjustments required for the five-day leave period.

The application is needed upon the birth of the worker's biological child. Article 132 Fraction XXVII-bis LFT entitles the father to five working days of paid leave starting from the date of birth. In practice, many employers accept verbal notification at the time of the birth followed by the written application within the first working day, accompanied by the birth notification (aviso de nacimiento) or the hospital birth certificate (certificado de nacimiento del hospital) that the IMSS-affiliated hospital issues. The official birth registration (acta de nacimiento) must subsequently be obtained from the Registro Civil of the municipality where the birth occurred under the Ley General de Población and the applicable state Código Civil, and a copy should be provided to the employer for the personnel file.

The form is needed upon adoption. Where a male worker or non-birthing adoptive parent commences the legal adoption of an infant, Article 132 Fraction XXVII-bis LFT extends the five-day paternity leave right to the adoptive father. The supporting document is the judicial adoption decree (sentencia o resolución de adopción) issued by the competent Juez de lo Familiar under the Código Civil Federal or applicable state civil code. Adoptive paternity leave may be taken from the date of the adoption decree or from the date the child is placed in the adoptive home under an interim custody arrangement (guarda con fines de adopción).

The application is also needed in cases of multiple birth (parto múltiple — twins, triplets). The LFT does not explicitly extend the five-day period for multiple births, but several employers grant additional days as superior benefits. Where multiple births result in neonatal intensive care admission of the newborns, employers may accommodate requests for additional leave — whether through the worker's accrued vacation entitlement under Article 76 LFT, through a voluntary superior benefit granted by the employer, or through the flexible leave mechanisms available under applicable collective bargaining agreements.

The document is needed for payroll compliance. The five days of paternity leave must be reflected in the worker's CFDI de Nómina (payroll digital receipt) using the correct payment concept codes under the SAT's Anexo 20 specifications for payroll tax receipts — specifically, the days must be coded as días laborados or the equivalent paid leave concept rather than as absences (faltas) or unpaid days. Incorrect CFDI coding for paternity leave periods can trigger SAT audits and ISR withholding discrepancies. The employer must also ensure that IMSS contributions for the five-day period are calculated correctly — since paternity leave is paid at full salary by the employer, IMSS contributions on those five days remain the employer's obligation.

Finally, the application is needed where the employer's internal policies require advance scheduling or departmental coverage arrangements. Workers should submit the application — or at minimum provide advance verbal notice — as soon as the expected birth date is known, so that the employer can plan for the five-day absence. Most HR departments request formal written notification before processing payroll for the leave period.

A valid Paternity Leave Application Mexico under Article 132 Fraction XXVII-bis of the Ley Federal del Trabajo must include the following elements to create a complete and defensible leave authorization record.

Worker Identification: Full legal name of the worker (trabajador), his job title (puesto), department (área o departamento), IMSS Social Security Number (NSS), RFC, and CURP. The NSS is needed for IMSS payroll reporting during the leave period. The RFC is required for CFDI de Nómina records covering the five paid days.

Employer Identification: Full legal name (razón social) and RFC of the employer (patrón), the employer's IMSS registro patronal, and the name and position of the authorized HR representative receiving the application. These details ensure the application is directed to the correct authority within the company and can be processed promptly.

Event Type and Supporting Documentation: Identification of the event triggering the leave — biological birth (nacimiento) or adoption (adopción) — and reference to the supporting documentation attached to the application. For biological births: the hospital birth notification (aviso de nacimiento hospitalario) or the certified copy of the acta de nacimiento from the Registro Civil. For adoptions: the adoption decree (sentencia de adopción) or interim custody resolution (resolución de guarda con fines de adopción) from the competent Juez de lo Familiar. Both documents must identify the child's name, date of birth, and the worker's paternal relationship.

Requested Leave Dates: The specific start date and end date of the five working days of paternity leave, stated in DD/MM/YYYY format. The five days must be consecutive working days under Article 132 Fraction XXVII-bis LFT, beginning from the date of birth or adoption. Mandatory public holidays under Article 74 LFT occurring within the five-day window are not counted as working days and extend the leave period accordingly. The application should confirm the count of working days requested.

Salary Continuation Confirmation: A clause confirming that the employer will pay the worker's full salary during the five paternity leave days under Article 132 Fraction XXVII-bis LFT, without deduction from vacation entitlement under Article 76 LFT, from the aguinaldo under Article 87 LFT, or from any other accrued benefit. This distinguishes the statutory paternity leave from discretionary absences and protects the worker from payroll deductions.

Seniority and Employment Rights Preservation: Confirmation that the five days of paternity leave are counted as effective working days for all seniority, vacation, aguinaldo, and PTU (Participación de los Trabajadores en las Utilidades) calculation purposes — identical to the protection granted for maternity leave under Article 170 Section III LFT by analogy. The leave period does not interrupt the employment relationship for any benefit accrual calculation.

IMSS Contribution Acknowledgment: Confirmation that the employer will maintain IMSS registration and contributions for the worker during the five-day paternity leave period — since the employer pays full salary and IMSS contributions remain due on those days under Article 15 of the Ley del Seguro Social. This prevents any gap in the worker's IMSS coverage record.

Superior Benefit Option: Where the employer grants additional paternity leave beyond the five-day statutory minimum as a prestación superior a la ley — whether ten days, two weeks, or more — the application should document the total leave period and specify how the additional days are classified (superior benefit, vacation days applied, or paid leave at employer discretion). Superior benefits, once granted consistently, cannot be reduced under Article 57 LFT.

Signature Block: Signatures of the worker and the authorized employer representative, city and date of signature in DD/MM/YYYY format, and written employer acknowledgment (acuse de recibo) confirming receipt of the application and supporting birth or adoption documentation. The acknowledgment creates the documentary evidence that the employer was notified and the leave was authorized under Article 132 Fraction XXVII-bis LFT.

Forms-legal.com provides this Paternity Leave Application Mexico template as a practical starting point for documenting paternity leave entitlements. Employers should retain signed applications in each worker's personnel file (expediente laboral) under Article 804 LFT and coordinate with their payroll system to correctly code the five days in the CFDI de Nómina.