Pérez-Llorca analyzes the main labor news and trends in its conference ’Pérez-Llorca Laboral al Día’

The Firm held in Barcelona the second session of ’Pérez-Llorca Laboral al Día’ of 2024 The reform introduced by the Royal Decree-Law 6/2023, the Law 2/2023 and the new figure of the Responsible of the Internal Information System were some of the issues discussed at the event

The Labor, compensation and benefits area of Pérez-Llorca held in Barcelona a new session of ’Pérez-Llorca Laboral al Día’ with the participation of Manel Hernández and Iván Gayarre, partners of this practice, and Jesús Gómez, Magistrate of the Social Court 10 of Barcelona in Commission of Services in the Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia.

The seminar was inaugurated by Manel Hernández, who presented the latest and most significant judicial pronouncements. Some of them were the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union, dated February 22, 2024, which states that the consultation period in a collective procedure must begin when the established thresholds are expected to be exceeded, or the Judgment of the Supreme Court, dated January 29, 2024, which concludes that an individual communication of the beginning of the consultation period of a collective dismissal is not required, in the absence of an ad hoc negotiating committee or legal or union representation of the workers.

Next, Iván Gayarre presented the new developments in relation to Royal Decree-Law 6/2023 and the Annual Regulatory Plan of the General State Administration for 2024 to improve the efficiency of judicial processes. Gayarre pointed out two reforms with a marked digital character that will play a crucial role from now on: on the one hand, the amendment of Articles 28, 29 and 34 of the Law Regulating Social Jurisdiction on the accumulation of actions and processes and, on the other hand, the amendment of the rule contained in Article 86 bis of the same Law regarding the witness procedure.

As regards legislative trends, Gayarre commented on the most relevant points of the Annual Regulatory Plan of the General State Administration. Among these, he highlighted the Proposed Regulation developing Law 4/2023 for the real and effective equality of trans people and guaranteeing the rights of LGTBI people. "In the absence of workers’ representatives, or union sections, the same technique of the Equality Plan is applied, involving the most representative unions," Gayarre stressed.

Next, and as usual in the ’Pérez-Llorca Laboral al Día’ sessions, Hernández presented the "Top 3" of the most important rulings in recent months. The first position went to the Judgment of the Court of Justice of February 28, 2024, in which it was ruled that franchisor and franchisee do not constitute a pathological group of companies. Several franchised companies, owned by the franchisor, carried out a set of individual terminations. It was challenged requesting its collective nature and the National High Court upheld the claim, however, the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. "The inherent characteristics of the franchise contract, such as exclusivity, direction and control of the franchisor or the management of the commercial activity under his supervision did not imply the existence of a group of companies for labor purposes", explained Gayarre.

To conclude the session, Jesús Gómez analyzed the Law regulating the protection of persons who report regulatory infringements and the fight against corruption (Law 2/2023), of February 20, and the figures or legal status of the person responsible for the internal information system and the compliance officer. For the Magistrate, the regulation pursues a double purpose: the adequate material and personal protection of the persons reporting infringements against possible reprisals and the promotion of the culture of information at a general level, both in the public and private sphere. At this point, the Magistrate also referred to the legal status of his figure. "The person in charge of the internal information system must retain independence and autonomy with respect to the rest of the bodies of the entity, having the nature of ‘manager’. That is to say, there is the possibility, due to the nature and dimension of the specific organization, that the person in charge of the system develops his functions together with others related to the "ordinary performance of the functions of the post or position"," concludes Gómez.

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