Pérez-Llorca analyzes the main novelties in termination of employment in its conference ’Pérez-Llorca Laboral al Día’

The Firm held the third session of ’Pérez-Llorca Laboral al Día’ of 2024

The Labor, Compensation and Benefits area of Pérez-Llorca held a new session of ’Pérez-Llorca Laboral al Día’ which counted with the participation of Daniel Cifuentes and Isabel Moya, partners of the area, and Yolanda Valdeolivas, Of Counsel of this practice, who addressed the main developments in dismissal matters, as well as the Agreement on equality and LGTBI non-discrimination.

The seminar was opened by Daniel Cifuentes, who analyzed the recent agreement between employers, unions and the Government on LGTBI plans. Cifuentes explained that, despite the fact that companies with more than 50 employees are obliged to have an LGTBI Plan since March 2 of this year, all agents are expectant waiting for the publication of the regulation in the BOE.  "The draft of the regulation is a bit contradictory since the measures for equality and non-discrimination are established in collective bargaining, but at the same time the obligation of companies to negotiate them in the company’s plenary session is pointed out," said Cifuentes. In this line, the partner clarified that if there is no representation of the workers that make up the union committee, it is established that the measures of the regulation will be directly applicable.

Next, and as usual in the sessions of ’Pérez-Llorca Laboral al Día’, Isabel Moya presented the "Top 3" of the most important rulings of the last few months. The first position went to the Judgment of the National Court of Appeals issued on May 14, 2024 regarding collective dismissal thresholds. Moya remarked the progress of the jurisprudence in this matter and the new cases that have been included in recent years. For the partner, in this case the National Court goes a step further since "the agreements signed with workers so that they can be transferred to other companies of the commercial group must also be considered for the purposes of the collective dismissal thresholds, given that the relocations in companies of the group are measures to be negotiated in the consultation period".

To conclude the session, Yolanda Valdeolivas analyzed the imminent resolution of the European Committee of Social Rights on complementary compensations to the legal compensation foreseen for unfair dismissal. Valdeolivas indicated that, in the event of a decision that our domestic legislation did not comply with the European Social Charter in this area, a modification would be made to the severance pay provided for in Article 56 of the Workers’ Statute. In this context, some trade unions claimed that Spanish domestic legislation did not comply, allegations that were rejected by the Government’s Ministry of Economy.

The European Social Charter states that they must be adequate compensations and there must be some system of reparation for the damages suffered by the worker with the loss of employment. "In the compensation, the reparation of damages to compensate the worker prevails over any type of interpretation of a dissuasive nature. In addition, Spain has unemployment benefits, which should be considered as a system of compensation for the damage suffered due to the loss of employment", said the expert of the Firm, considering that our legal system is in line with the European Social Charter.

Valdeolivas also explained the keys to other new developments in the field of dismissal, such as dismissals in a situation of temporary disability or the termination of the contract after the declaration of permanent disability. In this last aspect, the expert pointed out that the Government has eliminated the automatic dismissal due to the declaration of permanent disability, which implies a reform of article 49.1.e) of the Workers’ Statute.

PerezLlorca.com