Introduction to Labour Law

Introduction to Labour Law

• Law is a set of rules for coexistence
• Public law governs state-individual relations (administrative, procedural, criminal, taxation)
• Private law governs individual-individual relations (civil, commercial, international)
• Labour law is a set of social relationships arising from someone performing services for another.
• It applies in cases of free will, payment, dependent relationships, services rendered on behalf of someone else, or personal qualifications.
• Collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) are trade union negotiations with the government for workers' rights.

Scope of Labour Law Throughout History

• Ancient Times: Manual labor, worker = slave, only duties imposed by the master, no rights/salary.
• Roman Empire: Distinction between labor (hard work) and work (creative), contracts between employers and free men (locatio conductio operis and operarum).
• Middle Ages: Workers involved slaves, freemen and serfs. Feudalism - protection and land in exchange for a share of the harvest.
• Pre-Capitalism: Cities built, trades such as merchants, artisans, and carpenters, self-employed, birth of guilds representing the most distant predecessors of labor unions.
• Capitalism: Industrial revolution led to the growth of factories, migration from rural areas to cities, political and economic liberalism, lack of state intervention, exploitation of workers, and social unrest.

Guiding Principles of Labour Law

• The general principle is limiting free will as opposed to civil law.
• Principles currently governing the application:
  • More favorable rule (art. 3.3 WS)
  • More beneficial conditions (art. 3.1c WS)
  • Inalienability of rights (art 3.5 WS)

State Intervention in Labor Relations

• Birth of labor laws, focus on limiting working hours and protecting workers' interests.
• Judicial power has jurisdiction over labor disputes.
• Labor and social jurisdiction handles labor-related procedures against companies or organizations (non-payment, dismissals, fines, breach of contracts, harassment, trade union issues, strikes).

Sources of Labor Law

• Generic rules and specific rules shared with other branches of the legal system.
• General rules and sectoral rules, worker's statute regarding minimum conditions, and applied to certain groups.
• National and International Rules:
  • Spanish constitution
  • Statutes
  • Collective agreements
  • Employment contracts
  • Custom
  • General principles of law
  • International: Regulations/directives of EU, Conventions/recommendations of ILO, International treaties, and International Jurisprudence

Spanish Constitution and Democratic Rule of Law

• Fundamental rights and freedoms (Constitution) specific labor rights including strike and association.
• Citizen's rights to work, sufficient remuneration, right to collective conflict measures.

International Treaties and ILO

• International labor organization (ILO) pacts, conventions of the UN, bilateral, and multilateral agreements.

Laws and Other Regulations

• Organic Law: freedom of association (strike)
• Ordinary Law: ex: temporary employment agencies
• Rules with the rank of law (extraordinary or urgent need), legislative decree that approves a consolidated text, e.g., Worker's Statute.

Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA)

• Agreements where working conditions and productivity are established through collective negotiation between entrepreneurs and workers' representatives.
• CBAs are binding for both parties and govern economic and labor aspects of work, and must be in writing.

Employee Employment Contracts

• The Workers Statute (Art. 1): Voluntary paid services within an organization/management of another person.
• Elements of employment contract: Voluntary, personal service, subordination/dependency, on behalf of others, and remuneration.
• Parties involved in the labor law relationship: worker and employer.

Essential Conditions of the Labor Relationship

• Normal working hours, and working day limits/regulations.
• Protection for workers, health/safety.

General Rules and Sectoral Rules

• Worker's statute, minimum conditions, and applied to certain groups.
• National and international rules.

Sources, National and International

• Spanish constitution, Spanish labor laws, and international labor standards

Employment Contract: Types and Duration

• Training, temporary, and indefinite contracts based on duration and type of working day (full-time, part-time).

Distance Work (Telework)

• Law 10/2021 defines remote work.
• Minimum content of a remote-work agreement: inventory of equipment, expenses, working hours and availability periods, percentage and distribution of hours, dedicated workplace, and means of exercising corporate control.

Temporary Contract

• Due to production circumstances (foreseeable/unforeseeable), substitution for an employee, or job cover during a selection/promotion process.

Training Contracts

• Alternating between 16-30 years old, no additional hours, no overtime, no shifts or night work, no probation period, can't be concluded if the worker has carried out a similar activity within 6 months or had an indefinite contract in the 3 months before being hired.

Internship Agreements

• Does not imply a labor relationship, can be paid or not.

Hand-over Contract

• A contract related to partial retirement, the worker min. 33 years of age and contributed to the company min. 6 years.

Indefinite Contract

• Time limits for services are not established; it can be verbal or written.

Permanent Discontinuous Contracts

• Intermittent work activity.

Permanent Construction Contract

• Activities related to construction, company duties to offer another position if necessary, the worker is eligible for unemployment benefits when no other job is available.

Part-Time Contracts (after 2022 reform)

• Employment contract, understanding of hours/day/week/month, less than comparative full-time.

Principles of Labor Law

• Most favorable rule, most beneficial condition, inalienability of work rights (cannot waive or give up).
• Principle of in dubio pro operario (in doubt, in favor of worker)

Principles of Equality and Proportionality

• Workers have the same rights as a full-time worker, but the amount of working hours should also be proportionally equal.

Working Day, Hours, Holidays, Overtime, and Salary

• Essential condition of the labor relationship. Limits work performance.
• Obligations of the worker include remaining available during working hours.
• Working day maximum duration.
• Protection for workers' health.

Night Time Work

• Prohibition on minors working during night hours.

Vacations

• Duration of agreed vacation time (min. 30 days)

Public Holidays

• Paid, non-recoverable, maximum duration yearly (1-14 days)

Minimum Interprofessional Wage

• Regulation of minimum wage annually, determined by trade unions, businesses associations, and authorities.

Wage Guarantees Fund (FOGASA)

• Autonomous body responsible for guaranteeing workers' receipt of wages.

Payroll Processing

• Management system for establishing/maintaining a fair salary structure, based on rules and procedures. Internal and external pay equity (equal payment, market salaries)

Remuneration Systems

• Techniques to establish salary levels (job-based, expertise-based, performance-based).

Labor Mobility: Functional Mobility

• The employer has the right to change a worker's functions within a certain professional group.

Limits of Functional Mobility

• Heteronomous limits: the existing rules or restrictions.
• Autonomous limits: the agreement between the employer and the employee.

Employer's Power of Management

• Rule-making and control power: the employer gives instructions and supervises workers behavior while respecting their dignity.
• Disciplinary/sanctioning power: used when workers fail to comply with obligations, procedures, or regulations.
• Policing power: used (only when necessary) to investigate workers' belongings or places (locker, personal items), when the situation requires it such as robbery.

Dismissal Types

• Collective dismissal: affects a group of workers.
• Objective dismissal: caused by factors beyond the worker's control.
• Disciplinary dismissal: related to serious misconduct.

Collective Dismissal Procedure

• The company must inform workers representatives of the procedure.
• A consultation period before the dismissal can proceed (with a period that can take up to 30 days).

Objective Dismissal Procedure

• The reasons for dismissal should be justified by the company.

Disciplinary Dismissal Procedure

• If there is a serious breach (misconduct) by the employee.

Causes of Suspension

• Mutual agreement between the employer and employee
• Reasons for health (temporarily).
• Maternity, paternity, taking care of children/family members.
• Public office or trade union duties, voluntary leave.

Paid Leave

• Cases of accidents or illnesses, surgeries/operations, holidays
• Duration of the leave, and payment of salary.

Termination of Employment Relationship

• Mutual agreement
• Expiration of the contract
• Resignation
• Death or incapacity of the worker/employer

Company Succession

• Transfer of undertakings; changes in ownership either under the legal framework or to the heirs of the deceased.
• Elements necessary for company succession: subjective: substitution of one entrepreneur by another, objective: all essential elements of the company are transferred.

Obligation of Information

• Principal company duty of information, and responsibilities for the worker's representatives
• Contractor and subcontractor duty of information, and responsibilities for the worker and SS representatives.

Occupational Health Obligations

• Company's role in risk prevention. Coordinating mesures among workers.

Industrial Collective Agreement

• Guarantee of applicable collective agreement to contractors/subcontractors.

Suspensions of Employment Relationship

• Legal framework for suspending work duties without terminating the employment.

Workers Representatives

• Rights and roles of workers representatives to participate in the company and the negotiation process, for instance to be informed/consulted on matters regarding to the business.

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

• Methods of resolving disputes outside of court (e.g., mediation, conciliation, arbitration)