Labour law is the set of rules and principles that regulate legal relations between employer and employee based on a voluntary, subordinate and remunerated supply of human work with the goal of guaranteeing the completion of the parties taking part in the professional relation.
The Royal Decree-law 24/2020 of 26 June provides for specific labour measures to mitigate the impact of the new pandemic outbreaks on the activity of companies in Spain: ERTEs on the grounds of force majeure and ERTE due “to resurgence” of COVID-19.
The basis to claim an undue payment appears in articles 1895 and 1901 of the Spanish Civil Code and resides in the legal obligation between a person who receives what he/she is not entitled to and the entity that makes the payment by mistake.
Force Majeure ERTE are regulated in arts. 47.3 and 51.7 ET, art. 31 and ff of Royal Decree 1483/2012 and arts. 22 and 24 to 28 of Royal Decree Law 8/020. ERTE for objective causes linked to COVID-19 are regulated in art. 47 ET, arts. 16 and ff of Royal Decree 1483/2012 and arts.23 and 25 to 28 of Royal Decree-Law 8/2020.
Among the measures approved by the government after the decree of the state of alert in Spain, the temporary suspension of employment contracts or ERTE (temporary employment regulation file) takes on special relevance for the company.
The “à la carte” working day is once again challenging companies in Spain. Beyond the impact on the organization of working days and shifts, workers’ demands can provide guarantees of indemnity against possible dismissals.
Royal Decree Law 8/2019 of 8 March 12 May 2019 establishes that all companies carrying out an activity in Spain must keep a daily record of the working hours of their workers. Non-compliance with this measure may lead to fines up to €6,250.
The new Royal Decree-Law 28/2018, of 28 December, determines the inclusion in the Social Security System of persons who carry out training practices, non-work practices, or external academic practices in companies, institutions or entities included in training programmes. The measure applies to remunerated and non-remunerated internships.
The Spanish justice system begins to call into question the à la carte working day when it appreciates that the organisational causes founded by the company are more relevant than the purposes alleged by the workers who request the adaptation of their working hours.
Law 27/2011, of August 1st, in its sixteenth additional provision, establishes, for companies that carry out redundancy procedures affecting workers from fifty years of age onwards, the obligation to make a financial contribution to the Public Treasury.
Community regulation and, by transposition, Spanish regulation, allow companies to use qualified electronic signatures as a fully effective and legally valid instrument for signing contracts and other employment documents.