Labour Research (September 2019)

European news

Atypical contracts


Spain’s two main union confederations, CCOO and UGT, have welcomed new efforts by the labour ministry to tackle fraud relating to temporary and part-time employment. 


Spanish legislation only allows temporary contracts under certain limited conditions. 


Meanwhile, fraud in relation to part-time workers generally takes the form of having to work extra hours that are not paid. 


The latest campaign involves sending 50,000 letters to employers suspected of failing to comply with the law, with the threat of a visit from the labour inspector if no action is taken. 


A similar campaign in 2018, when 131,000 letters were sent, resulted in 61,445 temporary contracts being converted into permanent ones. 


In addition, the campaign gave rise to 8,842 cases where part-time workers were given contracts reflecting their actual (longer) working hours. 



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