Labor Newsletter - March 2023

A fresh blow to legal certainty

Federico Durán López

The repeal of the own-initiative proceeding initiated with the labor courts and related to procedures for the characterization (or otherwise) for employment purposes of certain contractual relationships, which entailed a suspension of administrative proceedings, is a hard blow to legal certainty.

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News update

Seven takeaways on pension reform

The law provides, among others, various measures for increasing social security contributions and very major changes to the retirement pension system.

These are the new pieces of labor legislation in the Employment Law, the Law for real and actual equality of transgender people and the rights of LGBTI people, and the Law on sexual and reproductive health

We analyze the three laws published on March 1 in the Official State Gazette, together with the main obligations, changes and implications they will carry for companies.

Whistleblowing: The law on people reporting infringements of the law and to combat corruption has been published

The law requires companies with 50 or more workers to have an internal whistleblowing system and sets out fines up to €1,000,000

Publication of new national minimum wage for 2023

The royal decree raises the national minimum wage by 8% and regulates its offset and absorption in cases where workers’ remuneration exceeds the minimum wage when calculated over a year.

Action protocols published for the swift and effective investigation of offenses against life, health and the physical integrity of workers

An agreement has been signed by different entities aimed at setting up action protocols and cooperation mechanisms in the investigation of serious, very serious and fatal accidents, inquiries into crimes of endangerment and the enforcement of convictions.

Social security contributions order for 2023 has been published

The order determines the maximum and minimum contribution bases and rates starting on January 1, 2023. The maximum contribution base is set at €4,495.50 per month.

On the radar

• The labor minister will bring together a joint negotiating panel to update the 1995 Occupational Risk Prevention Law
• Pilot projects on four-day working week
• The labor and social security inspectors send out notifications to employers about permanent discontinuous contracts and training contracts
• Government, employer and employee representatives continue negotiations for the Interns’ Statute

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Judgments

• Debate over the option of imposing an additional severance to the legally determined severance for unfair dismissal
• The Supreme Court validates an agreement in the context of a collective layoff procedure that set a lower severance payment for people over 60
• A dismissal is considered unfair on the basis of proof obtained after opening a bag left behind by a worker
• The Supreme Court confirms the validity of a working time recording system in which the worker enters the hours worked
• The Supreme Court declares that the relationships of several odontologists are not employment relationships
• Dismissal of a worker on prolonged sick leave held to be unjustified not null and void

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And also...

Peru: Regulations for the Remote Work Law approved

Supreme Decree 002-2023-TR, the Regulations for Law 31572, the Remote Work Law, was published on February 26, 2023. The regulations add further details to the regulations on providing services under remote working arrangements at public authority entities, as well as at institutions and companies in the private sector.

Mexico: New rules on registration and surveillance for providers of specialized services

A agreement published in the Official Federal Gazette on February 3, 2023 amended the general provisions on the registration of providers of specialized services or projects under article 15 of the Federal Labor Law.

Garrigues Labor & employment and Sustainable

• The boards of listed companies and unlisted large companies will have to have at least 40% women members

Labor and Employment Blog

• Labor relations as an essential instrument to achieve equality between men and women

• Can artificial intelligence, under human supervision, dismiss me?

• Alternatives for companies against voluntary and unjustified absenteeism by a worker

• Should prescription glasses be provided by a company to its employees?

• One year on from the employment contract reform: what has changed?

Press

The risks of abandoning objective severance in dismissals

Article by Federico Durán, of counsel, attached to the Garrigues Labor and Employment Department in Madrid ('Cinco Días').