Next Thursday, March 31, there will be a small revolution in the world of labor relations in Spain. That day, the legal innovations of the labor reform will come fully into force to fight against that endemic evil that is the abuse of temporary hiring in the labor market. Although the labor reform law entered into force on December 31, the law itself gave a legal vacancy (transitional period during which a law or part of it does not apply) of three months for most measures that affect employment contracts.
Although, during these three months, although the contracts were made according to the law prior to the reform, the norm established that their duration could not exceed six months. Therefore, those contracts that have been signed between January and March may exhaust said period until September at the latest. But starting this coming Thursday, all new contracts signed in Spain will have to comply with the new requirements approved in the labor reform. These are the main legal developments:
Fixed-term contract
To begin with, all contracts are presumed indefinite. And there will only be a temporary contract with two causes: by circumstances of production and substitution.
The former may be used for two types of circumstances. The first, for occasional and unforeseeable increases and to cover fluctuations in production that, for the normal activity of the company, are generated and create a temporary mismatch between the company’s stable employment and that which is required. These may be used only in the event that a discontinuous fixed contract cannot be made. Its duration will be up to six months, extendable to one year by sectoral collective agreement.
The second submodality of temporary contract due to production circumstances is intended to deal with occasional situations that are foreseeable and that have a reduced and limited duration. In this case, the duration will be 90 days in the calendar year, but without being able to be used continuously.
These causes and contracts will also apply to temporary employment agencies. In addition, the contracts and subcontractors or concessionaires of the Administration may agree on one of these two modalities of contracting production circumstances if the described requirements are met, although the law expressly prohibits that the qualifying reason for these contracts is that the service is performed under a contractor or subcontractor.
The other type of temporary contract is substitution. It may be used to replace a person with the right to reserve a job, to complete a reduced working day or to cover a position during a promotion or selection process.
Fixed-discontinuous contract
The legislators intend that companies opt for this modality, of an indefinite but intermittent nature, to replace a good number of contracts that until now were temporary. For this, the law will allow this contract to be made for work of a seasonal nature or linked to seasonal productive activities. And also for those that do not have this nature but that, being of intermittent provision, have “certain, determined or indeterminate execution periods”.
They will also be used for the provision of services within the framework of the execution of commercial or administrative contracts that, being foreseeable, form part of the company’s activity. Likewise, temporary work companies may subscribe to them.
training contract
Two types are created: alternating training, which will combine work and training (dual), has no age limit (except 30 years in some specific training) and will imply that the contracted person has a tutor; its duration must be between three months and two years maximum. The working time may not exceed 65% of the working day of the agreement or legal maximum in the first year or 85% in the second. And the remuneration will be set in the agreement and, if this is not the case, it cannot be less than 60% of that position or 75% in the second year. It will never be less than the minimum wage in proportion to the time worked.
The second mode will be contract to obtain professional practice and is intended for those who have a university degree or FP certificate or equivalent. You must subscribe within three years of obtaining the title (five if it is made to a person with a disability). It will have a minimum duration of six months and a maximum of one year.
Indefinite contract for construction
A new fixed contract is created for this sector. When the work is finished, the company will be obliged to offer the employee a relocation to another work and even to requalify him if necessary for the new position. But this contract can be terminated “for reasons inherent to the person” (that the worker rejects the new job, that it is not suitable for any position even requalifying him or that there are no jobs for that person in another work in the same province, among others ).
The compensation that the worker who has this contract will receive will be “7% of the salary concepts established in the tables of the collective agreement that is applicable and that have been accrued during the entire term of the contract, or the higher established by the General Agreement of the Construction Sector”. Although these conditions of extinction will not apply to the structural personnel of the personnel of the construction companies.
New limits to chaining
- Two years. Next Thursday, March 31, new more restrictive limits on the chaining of contracts will also come into force. The period allowed to chain temporary contracts with or without continuity solution, through two or more contracts due to production circumstances, is reduced from 24 to 18 months (compared to the current 30). If this formula is not fulfilled, the worker will acquire the condition of indefinite. For the purposes of counting the number of contracts for the period and term to calculate the chain, only the contracts in force as of December 31, 2021 will be taken into account.
- Post fixity. But in addition, the person who occupies a job that has been occupied, with or without continuity solution, for more than 18 months in a period of 24 months by temporary contracts will also be permanent.
- Evaluation. The Government will have to analyze the data on permanent contracts in January 2025 and then publish the official rate of general temporary employment and by sectors. This rate must be evaluated every two years and, if it is not reduced, the Executive must negotiate new measures in the social dialogue.
