If you are an employer, whether you own the company or you are in charge of Human Resources, you should be aware of the upcoming call ban letter of no criminal record, which can no longer be requested as a requirement for the hiring of workers, as long as it is approved by the Chamber of Deputies in the coming weeks.
The Senate has already approved a reform to the Federal Labor Law (LFT) so that employers refrain from requesting or requiring the presentation of this type of documents for entry, permanence or promotion in employment.
What is known as a letter of no criminal record, In reality, it is officially called the Criminal Record Certificate. which is issued both at the federal level and in all entities of the country.
Differential treatment for companies
The initiative prohibits employers and their representatives from refusing to hire employees who have criminal records, as this is considered discriminatory.
The author of this proposal is none other than the Morena senator and union leader Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, president of the Labor and Social Welfare Commission of the Upper House, and who, by the way, in 2007 was accused of having diverted 55 million dollars that belonged to the workers of the Mining Union, which led him to flee the country, settling in Canada. .
The senator of the official party assures that his initiative aims promote a true opportunity for social reintegration for all people who have committed a crime, and who are free, either conditionally or because they have completed their sentence.
It is worth clarifying that the proposal submitted to the Chamber of Deputies establishes an exception: Yes, a criminal record letter may be requested, and employment may be denied in the cases indicated in article 27, section IV, of the National Law of Criminal Execution.
This section provides that the record relating to the criminal record may only be extended in the following cases: When requested by the administrative and judicial authorities, for criminal investigation purposes; when it is requested to exercise a right or fulfill a duty; and in specific cases in which the regulations establish it as a requirement to perform a job, position or commission in the public service.”
It is also appropriate to request the aforementioned letter for admission to public or private security institutions, as well as when it is considered required for reasons of public interest.
That is, government institutions can request proof of criminal records and refuse to hire anyone who has them, while now this will be prohibited for companies, which implies differentiated treatment for investors, in contrast to what is required in some areas of the Mexican bureaucratic system.
The pros and cons
The next prohibition of the aforementioned record, if approved by the Lower House, has the objective of not truncate the right of Mexicans with criminal records to access decent employment, Therefore, the ruling reforms both the Federal Labor Law, which is applied in consortia, and the Federal Law of Workers in the Service of the State, a rule that is only for bureaucrats, but with the exception already mentioned.
With this, especially in the private initiative, employment cannot be denied for reasons of ethnic origin, gender, age, disability, social condition, health conditions, religion, opinions, sexual preferences, marital status or criminal record.
Although this reform is not entirely negative, since in Mexico there are people who were sentenced without actually breaking any law, since there are numerous cases of arbitrary imprisonment, it is also true that companies require reliable and fair personnel. For this, a letter of no criminal record is usually requested.
In this sense, as occurs with other prohibitions that are indicated in the Constitution and in labor regulations, the reality is that This new provision may be inoperative, because there are other ways to investigate job candidates.
In fact, in our country there are companies dedicated to creating databases that contain the names of those workers who have sued their employers. These are firms that provide information services to other businesses or to personnel recruitment offices that are they are usually called “labor bureaus”.
This type of investigative activities may be illegal if the job applicant has not given his or her consent to said investigation. The same happens if he or she is informed that he or she will not be hired because at some point he or she sued the company for which he or she worked, which is discriminatory.
However, in reality, no consortium or recruiter gives this explanation when they decide not to hire someone, either because they appear in the job bulletins or because they have a criminal record.
Public data
The Conciliation and Arbitration Boards, and the labor Courts that are replacing them, issue a bulletin that lists the demands promoted by both employers and workers. Is about data that is public, so they can be purchased and put together in listings, which does not violate any laws.
The same happens with criminal proceedings, since the courts in this matter also issue daily bulletins that report on the cases they are resolving.
Ergo, In Mexico you can also know a person’s criminal record, without having to ask them for the respective certificate. It is enough to hire a lawyer or a law firm that specializes in investigation. Obviously, before carrying out the investigation, the candidate’s express consent must be requested.
In this way, without openly acknowledging it, just as some companies decide not to hire candidates who in the past sued their former employer, which is an act of discrimination, Companies will end up doing the same after investigating the applicant and finding that they have a criminal record.since in this specific issue it is debatable to consider it discriminatory to prefer workers who have not committed a crime.
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Surya Palacios Journalist and lawyer, specialist in legal and human rights analysis. She has been a reporter, radio host and editor.