“Reloj checador” is the term Mexican companies use for the device that records when each employee clocks in and out. With the 2026 labor reform, that record stops being good practice and becomes an obligation with a date and a fine attached. Here is what a reloj checador is, what the law requires, how much non-compliance can cost, and which options ask for no fingerprint and no face.
What a reloj checador is
A reloj checador is any device that marks the start and end of a work shift, from the old mechanical clock with a paper card to a digital terminal with a fingerprint reader, a card, or a QR code. In Mexico the term works as a stand-in for “attendance-tracking system”, and the pages that compete for the search treat it as the name of the product, not only the action it describes. Source: bizneo.com, “Reloj checador de empleados” (checked 6 September 2026).
What the 2026 labor reform requires
The reform to Mexico’s Federal Labor Law, published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 1 May 2026, added the obligation to electronically record the start and end time of each employee’s shift. Source: Diario Oficial de la Federación, decree of 1 May 2026.
That obligation, and the fine behind it, have been in force since 1 May 2026: the decree defers neither one. What does wait until 1 January 2027 is the set of general rules the Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social (STPS, the labor ministry) must publish, which will set the scope and exemptions of the record (transitorio quinto of the decree). The weekly work-hours cut is gradual: 46 hours in 2027, 44 in 2028, 42 in 2029, and 40 in 2030. Source: Diario Oficial de la Federación, decree of 1 May 2026.
As of this review, the duty to record work hours and its fine already apply; what is still pending is the STPS general rules on scope and exemptions, due 1 January 2027.
How much non-compliance can cost
Not meeting the duty set out in article 132, fraction XXXIV, can draw a fine of 250 to 5,000 UMA, under article 994, fraction IV Bis of the Federal Labor Law. A repeat offense doubles the fine (article 992). Source: Federal Labor Law, Cámara de Diputados.
The UMA (Unidad de Medida y Actualización, Mexico’s reference unit for fines), in force since 1 February 2026, is $117.31 Mexican pesos a day, published by INEGI. Source: INEGI, press release 1/26, Unidad de Medida y Actualización (checked 13 September 2026). At that rate, the fine range works out to $29,327.50 to $586,550 Mexican pesos: a calculation of our own from the two official figures above, not a figure either source publishes ready-made.
The law does not require biometrics
The reform does not force a company to use a fingerprint or facial recognition: it asks for the record to be kept electronically, not on paper, and leaves the technology choice to the employer, whether an app, a web form, a QR code, or biometrics. Source: Federal Labor Law, article 132 fraction XXXIV, Cámara de Diputados.
Choosing biometrics does add an extra duty a QR code does not carry: Mexico’s Ley Federal de Protección de Datos Personales en Posesión de los Particulares (the federal data-protection law for private parties) requires express, written consent before processing sensitive personal data (article 8); a fingerprint or a face falls into that category by interpretation of article 3, fraction VI, which does not list them by name. The law sets no retention period in article 15, and does not require encrypted storage: article 18 asks for security measures to protect the data, without naming a technique. Biometric data still counts as sensitive data: unlike a password, it cannot be changed once it leaks. Source: Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties, Cámara de Diputados.
A digital reloj checador with no biometrics: what IDClock is
IDClock is a digital reloj checador: a wall-mounted device shows a QR code that keeps changing, the employee scans it with the app, and the record is saved with the exact clock-in and clock-out time. It asks for no fingerprint, no face, and no voice, so it carries none of the extra written-consent duty that capturing sensitive biometric data does. Like any record that holds personal data, a QR punch still needs a privacy notice (articles 14 and 15 of the Ley Federal de Protección de Datos Personales en Posesión de los Particulares). The QR and NFC device plan costs €49.99 a month per device, with unlimited users: a company pays for each door where staff clock in, not for each person it hires. The location clock-in plan, with no device, costs €19.99 a month per company, with unlimited employees.
This describes the product as it stands today, not a certification under the reform: the law creates no certification scheme. The general rules the STPS publishes will set the scope and exemptions of the record, not a list of approved systems, and no provider can call itself certified under this reform.
What to check before choosing a reloj checador
- If it asks for biometric data, check whether you have the privacy notice and written consent ready before installing it.
- Whether the record stays available for a future STPS check, with the exact clock-in and clock-out time for each day.
- Whether the price grows with each person hired, or stays fixed per device or door.
- Whether the provider warns you of a legal change, such as the publication of the STPS 2027 general rules.
See what the record-keeping duty looks like on the other side of the Atlantic in mandatory time tracking in Spain: a different law, the same underlying question of what counts as a reliable record.
Frequently asked questions
Is a biometric reloj checador mandatory in Mexico?
No. The law asks for the record to be kept electronically, not on paper, and leaves the technology choice to the employer: an app, a web form, a QR code, or biometrics all count equally. The record stands as full proof only if the employee and the employer agreed to use it (article 132, fraction XXXIV, third paragraph).
Since when is there a fine for not having a reloj checador in Mexico?
The duty to record work hours, and the fine under article 994, fraction IV Bis, have been in force since the reform was published on 1 May 2026. Only the STPS general rules on scope and exemptions take effect on 1 January 2027 (transitorio quinto).
Sources
- bizneo.com, “Reloj checador de empleados” (checked 6 September 2026)
- Diario Oficial de la Federación, decree of 1 May 2026
- Federal Labor Law, Cámara de Diputados
- Federal Law on the Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Parties, Cámara de Diputados
- INEGI, press release 1/26, Unidad de Medida y Actualización (checked 13 September 2026)