Press Room

ILO Termination of Employment Convention (1982) can be directly applied because i) Spain ratified it in 1985, ii) art. 96.1 of the Spanish Constitution introduces ratified international treaties into our legal system, and iii) art. 7 of the Convention is complete enough not needing any additional enforcement rules to be applied. Art. 7 requires that before the employment termination of a worker related to their conduct or performance, they must be provided with the opportunity to defend themselves from the allegations made, unless the employer cannot reasonably be expected to provide this opportunity. Until yesterday, companies where not obliged to grant this prior hearing to the employees because the Supreme Court’s own jurisprudence held that this was not necessary, but, with this new ruling, Supreme Court’s doctrine has been modified and, from now on, this prior hearing would be required and, may it not be complied, the dismissals will be considered unfair. Spanish Supreme Court 11/18/24

Some of the most important measures related to employment law and Social Security (SS) published today to support companies affected by the DANA (heavy rains) are the following: 100% exemption from the employer's contribution to the SS for the period from November 2024 to February 2025 in the case that the company applies an ERTE (temporary employment suspension) due to force majeure. Postponement on the payment of Social Security contributions due between October 2024 and January 2025, as long as the companies maintain their activity, do not have other postponements in effect, and are up-to-date with their obligations with Social Security. The deadline for paying Social Security contributions accrued in September 2024 will be extended by 1 month. Temporary sick leave for workers affected by the DANA will be considered situations equivalent to a work-related accident (on the day of sick leave, the company will cover 100% of the salary, and from the day after the sick leave onward, workers will receive a pension equivalent to 75% of their regular contribution base, with the payment assumed by the Mutua - insurance company). Benefits for permanent disability, death, and survivors will also be considered as situations equivalent to a work-related accident if the cause is linked to the DANA. Monthly benefits for minimum vital income, retirement pensions, and disability pensions will be increased by 15% between November 2024 and January 2025, both included. No paid leave is foreseen. For more details, check out the Royal Decree-Law 6/2024, of November 5 in "Read More."

Fair dismissal of a married couple of employees because they left unattended their respective duties for a few minutes during peak time to engage in sexual intercourse in the booth where the husband usually is as the maintenance manager of the Tennis Club where they both work (the sexual moans were audible from outside). This behavior constitutes a breach of contractual good faith and an abuse of trust, because they used company premises for personal purposes, and they did it during their working time; it is also notable that the husband was the only one who had the keys to the booth and they used this trust for personal benefit. Furthermore, there were children around who could have witnessed this sexual activity, which could even be classified as a crime of exhibitionism in front of minors. Appellate Court of Catalonia, 03/15/24

Do you have a domestic worker (DW)? From the moment the National Health and Social Security Institute (INSST) publishes the free risk evaluation tool, you will have six months to comply with the obligations provided in the Royal Decree 893/2024, from September 10, which mainly are: i) complying with the obligation of conducting a risk evaluation to ensure the health and safety of the workplace (your home), that should be periodically updated if the working conditions change, ii) implementation of the measures needed to reduce/avoid the risks detected in the evaluation (these measures must be in writing and handed over to the employee who can participate in its implementation), iii) providing working tools to the DW and, if necessary, the special individual protection equipment too, and iv) train the DW in occupational risks prevention once the SEPE (public employment service) publishes the training activities for that purpose. The employer may provide the occupational risks prevention activities if they is able to do so, or have other close person taking over them or hire an external prevention service for that purpose. The INSST shall prepare and publish the guide to prevent violence and harassment at the workplace, which must be given to the DW. DW will be entitled to a medical check-up every 3 years once the National Health System starts offering them for free. In case of non-compliance with the occupational risks prevention regulation resulting in the DW receiving a Social Security’s pension due to a work related accident or sickness, this social benefit will not carry a surcharge for the employer – unlike for the companies.

As the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) prohibits the prorating of the extra payments, whatever the employee has received for that concept will be considered regular salary (as expressly provided by the CBA) and therefore the company must pay the extra payments again, regardless of the fact that the employee has already received this amount, even if this results in the employee receiving the extra payments twice. Appellate Court of Canary Islands, Feb 22, 2024.