Spain’s redundancy measures

Almost a year after its last major change to employment law, which made it easier and cheaper to dismiss employees, the Spanish government has introduced further measures which take the process further.

Through a decree introduced at the start of August, the right-wing government, led by Mariano Rajoy, has made what it calls “technical improvements” to the legislation.

One is to reduce the numbers involved in consultations over redundancies or measures, such as redeployment or substantial modifications in employment contracts. In future, there will only be one negotiating body, even if several workplaces scattered across the country are affected, and it cannot have more than 13 members.

Another change is that the consultations will not be held up because the negotiating body, representing the employees has not been set up. Once the announcement has been made, the employees have seven days to choose the members of the negotiating body (extendable to 15 days in some cases) before the clock starts ticking.

Foreign multinationals will no longer be required to produce group accounts in making the case for redundancies — the obligation only applies to Spanish-based companies.

For Ramón Górriz of CCOO, one of Spain’s two main union confederations, the measures mean simply that “employers, particularly foreign multinationals, will find it easier to make collective redundancies”.