Fernando leads as Head of the Labor/Employment and Social Security Practice Group in the Firm’s offices in Monterrey, Tijuana and Silao (Bajío). He is a highly skilled attorney with more than 19 years of experience advising and representing exclusively employers in multiple industries in a broad range of labor/employment and social security matters throughout the country. Fernando´s practice focuses on preventive counseling, strategic labor planning, managing business change and disruption, and on individual and collective employment litigation before federal and local authorities. He also regularly counsels on preventive legal strategies in human resources matters, particularly in complex cross-border transactions. Fernando has vast experience advising on employee benefits and executive compensation plans, expatriate executive mobility, discrimination, pension plans, social security matters, individual and collective termination of employment relations, and collective bargaining with unions.Fernando has developed an expertise in labor relations in several industries, particularly on individual and collective benefits, preventive labor strategies and strategies to reduce labor costs (i.e. restructure or elimination of labor benefits, work-stoppages, temporary or permanent closures, downsizing, etc.).He also has extensive experience handling audits and due-diligence procedures regarding compliance with all labor/employment and social security laws and regulations in Mexico, especially derived from complex M&A transactions and business expansions. Fernando has represented multiple foreign and domestic corporations in all matters related to their strategic labor planning, especially in the automotive, “maquiladora”, aerospace, mining, pharmaceutical, film and textile-retail industries. He has also collaborated with several universities in the design of the curriculum for the Masters of Labor Law Degree, and has been a visiting faculty member. Fernando has been a member and an advisor of the Labor Committees of INDEX Nacional and INDEX Nuevo León, as well as of the National Board of INDEX. He also collaborates periodically with business and law-related publications/newsletters such as El Financiero, Forbes Mexico and International Law Office, publishing articles on different labor/employment and social security related themes. He also regularly participates as speaker and moderator on business and law-related forums.