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Labor Newsletter - November 2021

Spain - 

The common thread of the labor reform

Federico Durán

Just as, thanks to Ariadne's thread, Theseus managed to find the way out of the labyrinth after having taken care of the Minotaur, we would need to identify a common thread, not just to get out, but simply to guide ourselves in the labyrinth that the processing/negotiation of the labor reform has become. The problem is that it is not easy to find this thread, in the generous hypothesis that it exists. But let us make an effort, searching not only in the proposed texts but also in the multiple statements, counter-statements, corrections and denials that adorn the debate. 

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News

  • The Government progresses with the labor reform and announces that it will approved before the end of 2021
  • The Strategic Plan of the Labor and Social Security Inspection 2021-2023 has been approved
  • Agreement between the Government and labor unions for the increase in social security contributions up to 2032
  • The labor calendar for 2022 has been published
  • Criteria for the prevention of occupational hazards in teleworking
  • Protection under ERTE temporary layoff procedure system extended until February 28, 2022, approval of new minimum wage and other employment measures
  • The Labor and Social Security Inspection starts a communications campaign to companies within the framework of the shock plan against fraud in temporary contracts

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Judgements

  • The Supreme Court admits the validity of security camera recordings even during rest time
  • Companies are not obliged to carry out COVID-19 screening tests on workers
  • Compulsory professional training is considered as working time
  • The Supreme Court declares the invalidity of a post-contractual non-competition agreement with a compensation of 35 euros per month
  • The acknowledgement of the facts by the employee in the contradictory proceedings does not imply that the company has effective knowledge for the purposes of the prescription period
  • The non-exceeding of the probationary period can be counted for the purposes of collective dismissal thresholds if there has been an abusive or antisocial use of the right

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Articles from the Labor and Employment Law Blog

Towards the standardization of labor compliance

Organizations with an effective labor compliance system in place can improve their reputation and image, strengthening their transparency and business ethics culture. To facilitate this process, an initiative is current underway to develop a UNE standard that helps to improve self-regulation and the development of good practices in the labor relations of companies, through a management system with requirements and recommendations. Continue reading here.

What content must be included in basic copies of employment contracts? 

The Supreme Court has clarified what content must be included in the basic copies of employment contracts that companies must provide to the workers’ statutory representatives in accordance with article 8 of the Workers’ Statute. It has done so in a judgment handed down by the Labor Chamber on May 26, 2021, which confirmed the judgment handed down by the Labor Chamber of the National Appellate Court on October 18, 2019. Continue reading here

Towards a new way of working (or not) in a labor market without COVID-19

The COVID-19 public health crisis has had an unprecedented impact on the labor market in Spain, making it essential to implement extraordinary measures to offset the effects that this crisis has had on employment. Two main, extraordinary measures have been put in place in the area of human resources and labor relations: temporary collective layoff procedures (ERTE) and remote working. Although these measures already existed in Spanish legislation, they had never been used on such a massive scale and for such a long period of time. Continue reading here.

The Constitutional Court diminishes the value of agreements reached in collective dismissals

Up to recently, whether an agreement was reached with the employees’ representatives in a collective dismissal procedure was important. Reaching that agreement meant a (very) significant legal effect: the case law considered that the reasons justifying the collective dismissal had to be presumed to exist and, as a consequence of the above, the employees affected could not question their existence in each of the individual proceedings which they might commence. However, this legal approach which had been adopted by the Plenary Session of the Labor Chamber of the Supreme Court has been overturned by the Constitutional Court, in a judgment handed down on July 12, 2021. Continue reading here.

New ground for a dismissal to be held null and void: discrimination by association

Can a dismissal be discriminatory based on gender and, therefore, null and void, even though the employee that has been dismissed does not form part of a legally protected group? The conclusion reached by the Labor Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Galicia, in its judgment of March 4, 2021, was that it could. Continue reading here.

Prorating special payments: to do or not to do?

It is relatively frequent for employers to prorate, on a monthly basis, the two special payments usually paid in the summer and at Christmas. But … when is it actually possible to do this legally? We analyze it in this post.

Teleworking can help to reduce absenteeism

The pandemic in which we have lived since March 2020 has entailed the unavoidable and unexpected implementation of the teleworking system, without any possibility of previously analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of this type of work, and even without there being sufficient regulations on the matter when it all began. Continue reading here.

3-day weekends: a real possibility?

In a year still marked by the pandemic and by its impact on employment, there is an ongoing public debate in Spain regarding the possibility of reducing working time to 4 days a week. Continue reading here.

As the ODS get older, ESG criteria makes progress, also in a labor environment

September 25 is the sixth anniversary of the approval of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by the United Nations Organization (UNO). Objectives such as gender equality and equal pay for the same work, as well as theprotection of labor rights, are among the UNO’s priorities from a labor perspective. Continue reading here.

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Garrigues Labor and Employment in the press

An unmissable offer for a problem that cannot be postponed: New mechanisms for judicial decongestion

Article by Felipe Ochoa, principal associate in the Labor Department of Garrigues in Madrid ('Elderecho.com').

Read here

On the obligation not to compete

Article by Misericordia Borrás, partner in the Labor Department of Garrigues in Barcelona ('Diari de Tarragona').

Read here