Morena Deputies Propose Making Mother’s Day a Paid Holiday

ByGerardo Hernández

This article by Gerardo Hernández originally appeared in the April 24, 2026 edition of El Economista.

This week, a proposal was introduced in the Chamber of Deputies to recognize May 10th as a mandatory day off for workers. The bill aims to bridge the gap between those who have the opportunity to enjoy the day off thanks to their employer’s good practices and those who must work as usual because it is not an official holiday.

The proposal promoted by Deputy Mirna María de la Luz Rubio Sánchez (Morena) proposes a reform to the Federal Labour Law (LFT) to include May 10th of each year in the list of holidays for Mother’s Day.

“The spontaneous or voluntary nature of these practices creates a fundamental problem: their exercise depends entirely on the will of the employer and not on the recognition of a right; consequently, the possibility of effectively enjoying May 10 as a space for coexistence is subject to heterogeneous, unequal and, at times, arbitrary criteria,” the legislator explains in the bill.

According to the OCC Labour Thermometer, 56% of companies celebrate Mother’s Day with a partial or total break for female employees with children.

According to Representative Mirna Rubio, the recognition of May 10th as an official holiday is not unrelated to the current dynamics of the labour market. “It seeks to provide legal certainty and general scope to a practice that already has social acceptance and concrete application in numerous workplaces.”

Furthermore, the legislator believes that expanding the list of holidays for workers would have positive effects on work-life balance, family life, and the encouragement of consumption.

So far in the current legislature, the increase in mandatory rest days has been one of the most recurring themes in the proposals; 12 projects have been presented in this regard, although this is the first initiative that contemplates May 10.

The following dates have also been proposed to be added to the official holidays:

  • February 24th, Flag Day
  • March 8th, International Women’s Day
  • Holy Thursday and Good Friday
  • May 5th, the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla
  • June 30th is the Day of Dignity of Indigenous Peoples
  • October 12th, Columbus Day
  • November 1st and 2nd for the Day of the Dead
  • December 12th, the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe
  • The day set for the Revocation of Mandate process
  • The employee’s birthday.

However, none of the proposals have been successful. In fact, in January the Labor and Social Security Committee of the Chamber of Deputies issued a negative ruling on five bills, rejecting the addition of nine dates to the list.

Mexico’s Public Holidays

In Mexico, the Federal Labor Law recognizes nine mandatory rest days; seven are fixed and two more are linked to the change of the head of the Executive Branch and the electoral processes.

This is the list of official holidays:

  • January 1st for New Year’s Day
  • The first Monday of February, for the Anniversary of the Constitution (February 5)
  • The third Monday of March, for the birthday of Benito Juárez (March 21)
  • May 1st, Labor Day
  • September 16th, Independence Day
  • On October 1st, through the transfer of the Executive Branch
  • The third Monday of November for the Anniversary of the Revolution (November 20)
  • December 25th for Christmas
  • The dates determined by the electoral authorities for ordinary elections.

Since 1987, when elections were recognized as mandatory rest days, the mandatory rest days in the LFT have not been extended.

Although Article 74 of the Federal Labour Law , which regulates this right, has been modified since that year, the reforms have not resulted in an increase in holidays. An example of this was the adjustment made in 2006, which moved the commemorations of the Anniversary of the Constitution, the birth of Benito Juárez, and the Anniversary of the Revolution to a Monday, thus providing three long weekends for workers throughout the year.

According to a study by the International Labour Organization (ILO), Mexico is one of the countries with the fewest mandatory rest days for workers, along with Paraguay and Nicaragua, economies that also recognize only 9 holidays in their labour legislation.

According to the report “Organization of working time in Latin America: how many vacation and holiday days are there?”, the economies in the region grant between 13 and 14 official holidays per year , a threshold that Mexico is still far from.