Workplace Harassment Policy Mexico (Política de Hostigamiento y Acoso Laboral)

A Workplace Harassment Policy Mexico (Política de Hostigamiento y Acoso Laboral) is a formal employer document that defines, prohibits, and establishes complaint, investigation, and sanction procedures for workplace harassment in all its legally recognized forms under Mexican labour law — including hostigamiento sexual (sexual harassment by a person in a position of authority), acoso sexual (sexual harassment between peers), acoso laboral (workplace bullying or mobbing), and discriminación laboral (workplace discrimination based on protected characteristics).

The constitutional and statutory framework governing workplace harassment in Mexico is comprehensive. Article 1 of the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos of 5 February 1917, as amended on 10 June 2011, prohibits all forms of discrimination on grounds of ethnic origin, nationality, gender, age, disability, social condition, health condition, religion, migration status, political opinion, sexual preference, marital status, or any other ground that infringes human dignity. Article 123, Apartado A of the Constitución establishes the right to dignified and socially useful work — a right that encompasses a workplace free from violence, harassment, and discrimination.

Article 3 Bis of the Ley Federal del Trabajo (LFT), introduced by the Decreto de reforma laboral published in the DOF on 30 November 2012 and expanded by the Decreto de 1 de mayo de 2019, defines the key concepts. Hostigamiento sexual is defined as the exercise of power in a labour, teaching, domestic, or other hierarchical relationship, expressed through physical, verbal, or emotional conduct of a sexual nature against any person — the distinguishing element is the existence of a hierarchical power relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, which need not be the direct supervisor-subordinate relationship but includes any organizational hierarchy. Acoso sexual is defined as a form of violence that may occur regardless of hierarchical relationship, through repeated conduct of a sexual or erotic nature that, whether or not consented to, causes physical, psychological, or professional harm to the victim. Acoso laboral (workplace bullying) is defined as the systematic exercise of conduct against a worker with the purpose of causing harm, reducing their occupational development, or forcing them to leave — including threats, intimidation, isolation, and constant denigration.

Article 133, Fraction XII of the Ley Federal del Trabajo expressly prohibits employers (patrones) from permitting or tolerating acts of hostigamiento or acoso sexual in the workplace. Article 135, Fraction XI LFT equally prohibits workers from engaging in such acts. The STPS Protocolo para la Prevención, Atención y Sanción del Hostigamiento Sexual y Acoso Sexual (2019) establishes detailed guidance on the procedures that employers must follow — a workplace harassment policy aligned with this protocol is an essential compliance document.

The Ley General de Acceso de las Mujeres a una Vida Libre de Violencia (LGAMVLV), published in the DOF on 1 February 2007 and coordinated by the Secretaría de Gobernación (SEGOB), classifies workplace violence against women as a form of gender violence (violencia laboral) requiring preventive and corrective action by all employers. The NOM-035-STPS-2018 on psychosocial risk factors identifies hostile work environments, including harassment, as a major organizational psychosocial risk factor that employers with more than 50 workers are required to identify, assess, and control through a prevention program.

Mexican employers who fail to prevent or address workplace harassment face serious legal consequences: justified rescisión by the affected worker under Article 51, Fraction II LFT (employer misconduct causing harm to the worker or their family), administrative fines from the STPS Inspección del Trabajo for violating Articles 3 Bis and 133 Fraction XII LFT, criminal charges for sexual harassment under Article 259 Bis of the Código Penal Federal, and civil liability for moral damages (daño moral) under Article 1916 of the Código Civil Federal.

A Workplace Harassment Policy Mexico is needed by every employer — from micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 workers to large corporations — because the obligations imposed by Articles 3 Bis and 133 Fraction XII of the Ley Federal del Trabajo apply regardless of company size or sector.

The policy is legally essential for all companies required to maintain a Reglamento Interior de Trabajo under Article 422 LFT — the STPS Inspección del Trabajo verifies that internal regulations include anti-harassment provisions and that the company has a designated person or committee responsible for receiving and processing complaints.

A Workplace Harassment Policy Mexico is specifically needed when a company is subject to NOM-035-STPS-2018 obligations — organizations with more than 50 workers are required to conduct a psychosocial risk assessment (evaluación de factores de riesgo psicosocial) that expressly measures the presence of hostile workplace environments, including harassment and violence. The NOM-035 action plan must include prevention measures, and a harassment policy is the primary documentary control.

The policy is required whenever a company has been cited by the STPS Inspección del Trabajo for an Article 133 Fraction XII LFT violation — having a written, signed, and communicated policy is one of the first corrective actions the STPS requires employers to implement, along with training records and complaint-channel documentation.

A Workplace Harassment Policy is needed in any company that hires under the teletrabajo modality governed by Articles 330-A through 330-K LFT — digital harassment (cyberbullying through corporate communication platforms) and virtual sexual harassment through video calls or messaging apps are forms of acoso that the policy must expressly address in the remote work context.

The document is essential when a union (sindicato) representing workers at the company has raised harassment concerns during collective bargaining — the Contrato Colectivo de Trabajo (CCT) deposited with the Centro Federal de Conciliación y Registro Laboral (CFCRL) may incorporate harassment prevention provisions, and a standalone policy provides the operational framework for those CCT commitments.

For companies subject to the Ley General para la Igualdad entre Mujeres y Hombres (LGIMH) compliance requirements applicable to government suppliers and publicly listed companies monitored by the Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV), a harassment policy aligned with the Norma Mexicana NMX-R-025-SCFI-2015 (gender and labour equality certification) is a certification prerequisite.

A legally compliant Workplace Harassment Policy Mexico must contain the following essential elements to satisfy STPS inspection requirements, NOM-035-STPS-2018 obligations, and the procedural requirements of the STPS Protocolo de Hostigamiento Sexual y Acoso Sexual (2019).

Definitions and Scope: Clear definitions of all prohibited conduct referencing the LFT Article 3 Bis definitions of hostigamiento sexual, acoso sexual, acoso laboral, and discriminación laboral. The policy must explicitly state that it applies to all persons within the organization — directors, managers, supervisors, employees, temporary workers, interns, and contractors — and to conduct occurring at the physical workplace, at work-related events outside the office, during business travel, and through corporate digital platforms (email, messaging, video conferencing) in the teletrabajo context. The geographic and temporal scope must be unambiguous.

Prohibited Conduct Examples: A non-exhaustive list of specific conduct that constitutes each type of harassment, including: verbal conduct (sexual comments, insults, threats, derogatory nicknames), physical conduct (unwanted touching, invasion of personal space, physical assault), visual conduct (display of offensive images, sexually explicit messages), and digital conduct (harassing messages through corporate platforms, cyberbullying). The policy should also address retaliation (represalia) against any person who reports harassment, files a complaint, or participates in an investigation — retaliation is itself a prohibited act that may justify rescisión by the affected worker under Article 51 LFT.

Complaint Channel and Responsible Person: Designation of a specific person (Persona Responsable de Recibir Quejas — PRRQ) or committee (Comité de Atención a Quejas de Hostigamiento y Acoso) to receive complaints, with contact details and a guarantee of confidentiality. The STPS Protocolo requires that the responsible person be trained, impartial, and accessible to all workers — ideally someone without a direct hierarchical relationship to either the complainant or the accused. Both a formal (written, recorded) and informal (verbal, advisory) complaint channel should be available.

Investigation Procedure: A step-by-step investigation procedure aligned with the STPS Protocolo de 2019 — including acknowledgment of receipt of complaint within a specified number of business days, appointment of an investigator, interviews of the complainant, the accused, and witnesses, review of documentary and digital evidence, preparation of an investigation report with findings, and communication of the outcome to all parties. The procedure must guarantee due process for the accused (garantía de audiencia under Article 14 of the Constitución Política) and confidentiality for the complainant.

Sanctions: A graduated scale of sanctions for confirmed harassment violations, referencing the specific provisions of the Reglamento Interior de Trabajo and the causas de rescisión under Article 47 LFT for serious misconduct. Sanctions should include written warning (amonestación escrita), suspension without pay (suspensión sin goce de salario), transfer (cambio de área), and termination without liability (rescisión justificada) for the most serious or repeated violations. The policy should also specify that criminal complaints may be filed with the Ministerio Público (Fiscalía) for conduct constituting a criminal offence under Article 259 Bis of the Código Penal Federal.

Prevention and Training: Annual training commitment for all personnel on the definitions of harassment, the complaint procedure, and the sanctions applicable to violations — training records must be maintained and available for STPS inspection under Article 804 LFT. Reference to the NOM-035-STPS-2018 psychosocial risk assessment schedule and the integration of the harassment policy with the NOM-035 prevention program.

Data Protection and Confidentiality: A LFPDPPP-compliant data protection notice informing all parties that personal data collected during the complaint and investigation process will be processed exclusively for the purpose of resolving the complaint, retained for the legally required period under Article 804 LFT (minimum one year after employment ends), and accessible only to designated personnel. The ARCO rights of all parties under LFPDPPP Article 22 must be stated. Forms-legal.com provides this policy template as a compliance starting point; all employers should engage a specialist in derecho laboral to adapt the policy to their specific sector, workforce size, NOM-035 assessment results, and any applicable Contrato Colectivo de Trabajo provisions.