40-hour week: Brazil and the lessons from Chile, Colombia and Mexico

On October 16, 2026, Brazil's National Congress promulgated Constitutional Amendment 141, which cuts the maximum workweek from 44 to 40 hours, guarantees two paid weekly rest days and bans any pay cut. With it, Brazil joins the group of Latin American countries reducing working hours by law, alongside Chile, Colombia and Mexico, with the shortest transition of the four: 14 months between the amendment's publication and the 40-hour week, due in December 2027. In Chile and Colombia, the path takes five years; in Mexico, it runs from March 2026 to January 2030.

For companies with staff assigned to client sites, or posts, in outsourcing, facilities, security, cleaning and reception, what the other three countries have already regulated helps plan the transition. Brazil's timeline is covered in Brazil ends the 6x1 schedule: the Amendment 141 timeline for HR.

This article reflects the published rules and the official information available on its publication date.

Four countries, four timelines

Country	Rule	Timeline (weekly hours)	End point
Brazil	Constitutional Amendment 141 (2026)	44 → 42 (Dec 2026) → 40 (Dec 2027)	40 hours and two rest days
Chile	Ley 21.561 (2023)	45 → 44 (Apr 2024) → 42 (Apr 2026) → 40 (Apr 2028)	40 hours
Colombia	Ley 2101 (2021)	48 → 47 (Jul 2023) → 46 (Jul 2024) → 44 (Jul 2025) → 42 (Jul 2026)	42 hours, already in force
Mexico	Constitutional and labor law reforms (2026)	48 → 46 (2027) → 44 (2028) → 42 (2029) → 40 (2030)	40 hours

In all four countries, the rules ban pay cuts because of shorter hours. Brazil cuts 4 hours, compared with 5 in Chile, 6 in Colombia and 8 in Mexico. It was the last to pass its rule, but it will be the first of the four to reach 40 hours: Chile gets there in April 2028, and Mexico in January 2030. Colombia's target is 42 hours. Brazil is also the only one of the four that will require two rest days a week.

Chile: rules for when there is no agreement

Ley 21.561, Chile's 40-hour law, was published on April 26, 2023, and cuts working hours in three steps: 44 hours in the first year, 42 in the third and 40 in the fifth. Since April 26, 2026, the cap has been 42 hours. The law prefers that employers and employees, or unions, agree on where the hours come from. Without agreement, the employer must shorten the end of the workday, splitting the cut proportionally across working days.

That "proportional" split caused disputes, and a 2025 law had to clarify the criterion. Based on it, Chile's Labor Directorate (Dirección del Trabajo, DT), which enforces and interprets labor law, set the rules for the 42-hour stage in Dictamen 253/21 on April 16, 2026. Without agreement, the following applies:

• Five-day weeks: one hour less at the end of the workday on two different days.
• Six-day weeks: 50 minutes less on two days and 20 minutes on a third.
• Choice of days: up to the employer, respecting the agreed weekly schedule.
• Previous agreement: what was agreed for the 44-hour stage does not automatically apply to the 42-hour stage, unless its own wording says so.
• Negotiation: the employer must show there were real attempts to reach agreement.

Since 2024, the law has also recognized electronic time-tracking systems, such as mobile apps.

Colombia: one step a year

Ley 2101 of July 15, 2021, took Colombia's maximum workweek from 48 to 42 hours: 47 hours after two years in force, 46 after three and, from the fourth year, two hours less each year. According to Colombia's Ministry of Labor, the 42-hour week has applied since July 15, 2026. The law bans cuts to pay, benefits or the value of the ordinary hour.

Hours are distributed by agreement between employer and employee over five or six days a week, always with the rest day. By agreement, daily hours may range from 4 to 9 with no overtime premium, as long as the weekly average stays within the limit.

In private security, the ministry's Circular 0040 of April 2026 notes that a 2018 law allows shifts of up to 12 hours by written agreement (8 ordinary and up to 4 overtime), capped at 60 hours a week including overtime, and that the sector must also reach 42 hours without touching pay. The circular also highlights:

• detailed overtime records, with name, activity and day or night hours, required by the 2025 labor reform (Ley 2466), which removed the need for prior authorization from the ministry;
• written agreements on how hours are distributed and updated internal work rules;
• minimum rates for security services, set by the Superintendencia de Vigilancia y Seguridad Privada, which must allow for at least the minimum wage, overtime, night and holiday premiums and statutory benefits.

Mexico: electronic records and new overtime rules

The amendment to Article 123 of Mexico's Constitution was published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación, the official gazette, on March 3, 2026, and the reform of the Ley Federal del Trabajo, the Federal Labor Law, on May 1, taking effect the same day. The 48-hour maximum drops two hours a year, always on January 1, until it reaches 40 hours in 2030, with no cut to wages or benefits. Employers and workers have until December 31, 2026, to adjust their processes. Two changes matter to anyone managing schedules:

• Electronic records: employers must electronically record each worker's hours, including start and end times, and provide them to the authorities on request. The general rules of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (Secretaría del Trabajo y Previsión Social) on the scope of and exceptions to this obligation take effect on January 1, 2027. Fines range from 250 to 5,000 UMAs (Unidades de Medida y Actualización).
• Overtime: paid at a 100% premium, at most four hours a day on four days a week. The weekly cap rises gradually, from 9 hours in 2026 and 2027 to 12 in 2030. Beyond it, only four more hours a week are allowed, at a 200% premium, and ordinary and overtime hours combined cannot exceed 12 a day.

What Brazilian HR can learn

Each country has its own context, and in Brazil, Amendment 141 is what applies. Still, there are practical lessons for companies with posts:

1. Treat each stage as a negotiation. In Chile, an agreement for one stage does not automatically carry over to the next. Brazil's amendment has two stages in 12 months and allows hours to be offset and reduced through collective agreements (a convenção or acordo coletivo, negotiated with unions); in the 42-hour phase, a collective agreement may extend daily hours. Make clear which stage each clause covers.
2. Negotiate early and keep records. Amendment 141 does not say how to spread the reduced hours across the week. In Chile, without agreement, a fixed rule applies, and the company must prove it tried to negotiate. Record proposals, meetings and union responses.
3. Measure working time precisely. Mexico and Colombia tightened records of hours and overtime. In Brazil, from December, anything above 42 hours a week is no longer normal working time. Update hours, days off and overtime rules in your time-tracking system, whose records follow Portaria 671, Brazil's time-tracking regulation.
4. Put it in writing. As Colombia's ministry recommended to the security sector, update contracts, internal rules and schedule agreements, and tell teams about new schedules well in advance.
5. Take the numbers to clients. Same pay for fewer hours means each hour costs more. In public contracts involving labor, the cut in hours depends on a contract amendment (aditamento), with a deadline of one year from publication; private contracts, which the amendment does not address, follow their own terms. Prepare a cost breakdown per post for both stages.

What to do now

• List, by post and contract, who works more than 40 hours or has only one day off a week
• Design schedules for both stages: December 2026 and December 2027
• Negotiate clauses for each stage with the union and keep a record of each round
• Update hours, days off, overtime and hour bank (banco de horas, Brazil's time-off-in-lieu system) rules in your time-tracking system
• Update contracts and internal rules and share schedules in writing
• Take the cost breakdown to clients and request amendments to public contracts
• Follow the laws the amendment allows on special regimes and small businesses

Frequently asked questions

Does Brazil have the fastest transition of the four countries?

Yes. It takes 14 months from the amendment's publication to the 40-hour week, compared with five years in Chile and in Colombia, whose target is 42 hours. In Mexico, the path runs from March 2026 to January 2030.

Are six-day weeks still allowed in these countries?

In Chile and Colombia, hours may be spread over up to six days; in Mexico, the minimum is one rest day for every six days worked. In Brazil, from December 2026, there will be two rest days a week, and weeks with a single day off are only allowed, as an exception, under a compensation regime set in a collective agreement.

Do the rules of Chile, Colombia and Mexico apply to Brazilian companies?

Not for employers in Brazil, where Amendment 141 and Brazilian law apply. The other countries' rules are a reference for planning; teams hired in those countries follow local rules.

Conclusion

With the shortest transition of the four countries, Brazilian HR has until December for the first stage. The experience of the other three countries points to three fronts: negotiate each stage, measure working time precisely and take the numbers to clients early. For the amendment's timeline and rules, see Brazil ends the 6x1 schedule: the Amendment 141 timeline for HR.

Need to redesign schedules, days off and the hour bank for both stages? Talk to the Tirvu team and see TIRVU+ working in your own operation, with time tracking, schedules and dashboards for overtime and costs per contract in one system.

Sources

• Federal Senate (Brazil): text of Constitutional Amendment 141/2026 (Oct 16, 2026)
• Dirección del Trabajo (Chile): 40-hour law minisite
• Dirección del Trabajo (Chile): Dictamen 253/21 on the 42-hour stage (Apr 16, 2026)
• Función Pública (Colombia): text of Ley 2101 of 2021 (Jul 15, 2021)
• Colombia's Ministry of Labor: Circular 0040 on working hours in private security (Apr 16, 2026, copy hosted by INCP)
• Diario Oficial de la Federación (Mexico): amendment to Article 123 of the Constitution (Mar 3, 2026)
• Diario Oficial de la Federación (Mexico): reform of the Ley Federal del Trabajo (May 1, 2026)

This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace specialized legal advice.