A court has ruled that the dismissal of a mother who had to take time off work to accompany her daughter to the hospital was ‘unjustified’ on grounds of gender equality and the best interests of the child. At issue for the judges was the ability to ‘guarantee equality for female employees’ in a ‘situation of disadvantage’ and thus avoid ‘disproportionate and unjustified’ breaches of employment contract. This ruling, which concerns a former public sector employee, now becomes a precedent that can be applied to any Mexican worker, whether in the private or public sector.
In an opinion published on 27 August 2021 in the Semanario Judicial de la Federación, a court with labor law competency ruled in favour of an appeal filed in May 2021 by a former public sector employee whose employment contract was terminated because she had been absent from work three times over a one month period. The employee was a teacher who worked for the Mexican Secretaria of Public Education (SEP – Secretaría de Educación Pública), and had to accompany her sick 9-year-old daughter to the hospital.
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