Mutual Termination Agreement Mexico (Acuerdo de Rescisión Mutua)

A Mutual Termination Agreement Mexico (Acuerdo de Rescisión Mutua) is a bilateral written document in which both the employer (patrón) and the worker (trabajador) voluntarily agree to end their employment relationship, governed by Article 53, Fraction I of the Ley Federal del Trabajo (LFT), which lists mutual consent (mutuo consentimiento) as one of the lawful grounds for terminating an employment relationship in Mexico. Unlike a unilateral rescission by the employer under Article 47 LFT or a voluntary resignation by the worker under Article 51 LFT, a mutual termination agreement reflects the shared decision of both parties to separate without attributing fault to either side.

The constitutional basis for the right to terminate an employment relationship by mutual agreement derives from Article 5 of the Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, which guarantees freedom of contract (libertad contractual), and from Article 123, Apartado A, which vests labour rights in individual workers but permits their voluntary waiver when done freely, knowingly, and with full payment of all accrued legal entitlements. The Ley Federal del Trabajo, reformed substantially by the Decreto published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 1 May 2019, reinforces this framework by requiring that any settlement of labour rights (convenio de terminación de derechos laborales) be ratified before the Centro Federal de Conciliación y Registro Laboral (CFCRL) or the competent state conciliation centre to be legally binding and exempt from future challenge under Article 987 LFT.

The CFCRL, created by the 2019 reforma laboral to replace the former Juntas de Conciliación y Arbitraje, plays a central role in formalizing mutual termination agreements. Under Article 33 LFT, any waiver or abandonment of workers' rights (renuncia de derechos del trabajador) made outside of a CFCRL or judicial proceeding is null and void (nulo y sin efecto legal). This provision means that a private mutual termination agreement signed only by the employer and worker — without CFCRL ratification — can be challenged by the worker at any time, even years later, without the statute of limitations that would otherwise apply. Employers who rely on unratified agreements bear a significant legal risk of retroactive claims for unjustified dismissal compensation under Article 50 LFT, which includes three months' salary (indemnización constitucional) plus 20 days' salary per year of service (indemnización por antigüedad).

A properly executed Acuerdo de Rescisión Mutua must document the finiquito — the total settlement of all accrued labour benefits owed to the worker at the time of termination. The finiquito calculation under Mexican law includes: proportional aguinaldo (Christmas bonus) under Article 87 LFT calculated from 1 January to the termination date; accrued vacation days (días de vacaciones proporcionales) not yet taken under Article 76 LFT; the 25% vacation premium (prima vacacional) on accrued vacation pay under Article 80 LFT; proportional PTU (Participación de los Trabajadores en las Utilidades) for the current year under Articles 117–131 LFT; and, where the worker has fifteen or more years of service, a seniority premium (prima de antigüedad) of 12 days' salary per year of service under Article 162 LFT, capped at twice the general minimum wage. The three-month constitutional indemnity (indemnización constitucional under Article 50 LFT) is not legally required in a mutual termination — only in cases of unjustified employer-initiated dismissal — but may be offered as an additional payment to secure the worker's consent and obtain a broader release.

For IMSS purposes, the employer must file a Baja del Trabajador (worker deregistration) with the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social within 5 business days following the termination date under Article 15-A of the Ley del Seguro Social. Failure to timely file the baja results in continued IMSS premium assessments against the employer for a worker no longer providing services. The Centro Federal de Conciliación y Registro Laboral also registers the termination in the national worker registry (Registro Laboral), which forms part of the public information system established by the 2019 reforma to increase transparency in labour dispute resolution in Mexico.

A Mutual Termination Agreement Mexico is needed whenever both parties to an employment relationship — employer and worker — have reached a shared decision to end the work arrangement and wish to document that decision in a legally enforceable instrument that will withstand scrutiny by the Tribunales Laborales, IMSS auditors, and SAT inspectors.

The agreement is required when an employer is restructuring its workforce (reestructuración de personal) and negotiating individual separations with workers who agree to leave voluntarily in exchange for agreed settlement packages that may exceed the minimum legal finiquito. In these cases, the Acuerdo de Rescisión Mutua provides legal certainty that the worker cannot subsequently claim unjustified dismissal — a risk that is particularly significant given that Article 47 LFT places the burden of proving that a dismissal was justified entirely on the employer.

The document is needed when a worker approaches the employer and requests to end the employment relationship on terms mutually agreeable to both parties — for example, a worker who has secured alternative employment and wishes to negotiate an early release from a notice period, or a worker who is relocating to another city for personal reasons and seeks a clean separation with payment of full accrued benefits. In these voluntary-worker-initiated scenarios, the Acuerdo de Rescisión Mutua is the appropriate instrument because it reflects the bilateral nature of the agreement and avoids the characterization of the termination as either employer-initiated (rescisión por el patrón) or worker-initiated resignation (renuncia voluntaria).

The agreement is also needed when the employer and worker wish to document the separation in a format that can be ratified before the Centro Federal de Conciliación y Registro Laboral — ratification transforms the mutual agreement into a res judicata settlement (convenio con valor de cosa juzgada) under Articles 33 and 987 LFT, extinguishing all future claims arising from the employment relationship. Without CFCRL ratification, the Acuerdo de Rescisión Mutua provides limited protection against future claims by the worker.

Under Article 804 LFT, employers must retain employment termination documents for at least one year after the relationship ends, and the STPS inspección del trabajo may request production of these documents during routine audits. The SAT requires documentation of labour settlements for payroll tax (ISR) purposes — specifically, the calculation and tax treatment of finiquito payments, which are exempt from ISR up to a statutory ceiling under Article 93 of the Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta. Payments above this ceiling must be withheld and remitted to the SAT by the employer in its role as retention agent (agente retenedor de ISR).

A valid Mutual Termination Agreement Mexico under Ley Federal del Trabajo art. 53 fraction I must include the following essential elements to be enforceable and to qualify for CFCRL ratification.

Identification of Parties: Full legal name, RFC (Registro Federal de Contribuyentes), CURP (Clave Única de Registro de Población), NSS (Número de Seguridad Social), and domicile of both the employer (patrón) — including company RFC, IMSS registration number (registro patronal), and name of legal representative — and the worker (trabajador). Both the employer and worker must have full legal capacity to enter into the agreement (plena capacidad legal para contratar y obligarse).

Employment History Summary: The job title (puesto), department, start date of the employment relationship (fecha de inicio de la relación laboral), and the agreed termination date (fecha de terminación). The agreed termination date must be clearly identified as the last working day (último día de labores) and the date from which the worker's IMSS social security coverage under the employer's registro patronal ceases.

Declaration of Mutual Consent: An explicit statement that both parties terminate the employment relationship by mutual agreement under Article 53, Fraction I LFT — that neither party attributes fault or liability to the other, and that the termination is freely entered into without coercion (sin coacción ni presión de ningún tipo) or vitiated consent (vicios del consentimiento) under the Código Civil Federal.

Finiquito Calculation and Payment: A detailed, itemized calculation of all accrued benefits owed to the worker at the termination date: (a) proportional aguinaldo under Article 87 LFT; (b) accrued unused vacation days under Article 76 LFT (minimum 12 working days per year since 2023 reform); (c) 25% prima vacacional on accrued vacation pay under Article 80 LFT; (d) proportional PTU for the current fiscal year under Article 117 LFT; (e) prima de antigüedad of 12 days' salary per year of service under Article 162 LFT if service exceeds 15 years; and (f) any additional severance or negotiated payment agreed by the parties. The total amount (monto total) payable and the payment method (transferencia bancaria, cheque certificado) must be specified.

Mutual Release and Waiver: A clear release clause (cláusula de finiquito total) in which the worker acknowledges receipt of all amounts owed and releases the employer from any further labour, social security, or fiscal claims arising from the employment relationship — and reciprocally, the employer releases the worker from any claims arising from the performance of services. This release must be qualified as final and unconditional (finiquito total, líquido, y sin reservas), subject to CFCRL ratification to be effective under Article 33 LFT.

IMSS and INFONAVIT Obligations: Confirmation that the employer will file the Baja del Trabajador with the IMSS within 5 business days of the termination date under Article 15-A of the Ley del Seguro Social, and that all pending IMSS and INFONAVIT contributions computed on the Salario Diario Integrado (SDI) up to the termination date will be settled in full.

ISR Tax Treatment Disclosure: Disclosure of the ISR withholding calculation on the finiquito payment under Article 93 of the Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta (LISR). Finiquito components that are legally exempt from ISR include proportional aguinaldo (exempt up to 30 times the daily minimum wage), proportional prima vacacional (exempt up to 15 times the daily minimum wage), and indemnity payments (exempt up to 90 times the daily minimum wage for the first year and additional exemptions for subsequent years). The employer's obligation as agente retenedor de ISR must be documented.

CFCRL Ratification Clause: A clause requiring that both parties present the Acuerdo de Rescisión Mutua before the Centro Federal de Conciliación y Registro Laboral for ratification under Article 987 LFT within the agreed period. Without CFCRL ratification, the release clause described above is unenforceable against the worker under Article 33 LFT.

Forms-legal.com provides this Mutual Termination Agreement Mexico template as a practical starting point. Every mutual termination agreement should be reviewed by a Licenciado en Derecho specializing in derecho laboral before execution and ratification, to confirm accurate finiquito calculations, correct ISR withholding, and compliance with the specific requirements of the applicable CFCRL or state conciliation centre. The CFCRL ratification appointment must be scheduled through the CFCRL portal at cfcrl.gob.mx or the corresponding state conciliation centre.