{"id":21349,"date":"2024-12-17T10:10:09","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T09:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmi.es\/publicacion\/necessary-timely-change-spanish-workers-statute\/"},"modified":"2024-12-17T10:10:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T09:10:09","slug":"necessary-timely-change-spanish-workers-statute","status":"publish","type":"publicacion","link":"https:\/\/cmi.es\/en\/publicacion\/necessary-timely-change-spanish-workers-statute\/","title":{"rendered":"A necessary and timely change to the Spanish Workers’ Statute"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Manuel Rom\u00e1n Rivera<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spain’s Workers’ Statute<\/strong> (Estatuto de los Trabajadores<\/em>) has recently been amended, in the wake of the tragedy in Valencia that has caused such grief across Spain and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One knock-on effect was that employees found themselves unable to reach their workplaces, for obvious reasons: transport had collapsed, they were in areas that had been cut off, or their own vehicles had simply been written off under tonnes of mud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation left those who could not meet their obligations at work in a precarious position<\/strong>, since employers based in other towns might well be carrying on as normal, untouched by the flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal position was a thorny one. Will they dock my pay, even though they know I am cut off in my house, my village, my town?<\/strong> Could they even dismiss me for failing to turn up, on grounds of absenteeism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally such cases were settled by agreement between employees and employers, avoiding deductions from pay \u2014 for absences that were plainly beyond the employee’s control \u2014 by “making up” the hours not worked. But one cannot rule out ill-intentioned employers who saw an opportunity to terminate contracts on precisely the grounds that the employee had not come in to work. There were also cases of employees who, fearful for their jobs or simply out of a strong sense of responsibility, chose to chance it and get to work by whatever means possible<\/strong>, even at risk to their own safety. All of that has now changed.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Manuel Rom\u00e1n Rivera, lawyer and lecturer at CMI Higher Education<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Following the grave situation suffered in the region<\/strong>, the legislator took note and clarified matters, amending Article 37.3 of the Workers’ Statute by adding a new paragraph (g) that creates a new form of leave for such circumstances. It reads as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(g) Up to four days<\/strong> where it is impossible to reach the workplace, or to travel along the roads needed to get there, as a result of recommendations, restrictions or prohibitions on movement issued by the competent authorities, or where a situation of serious and imminent risk arises, including risk deriving from a disaster or adverse weather event. After those four days, the leave shall continue until the circumstances that justified it have ceased, without prejudice to the company’s ability to suspend the contract of employment or reduce working hours on grounds of force majeure under the terms set out in Article 47.6 of the Workers’ Statute.<\/em> [Translation of the Spanish provision.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means greater protection for employees who already have quite enough on their hands clearing mud out of their homes and rebuilding them, without also having to worry about losing their livelihood. They may take up to four days of paid<\/strong> leave: there is no longer any question of making up the time, nor can anyone require us to make up the hours we were unable to work because of climate-related disasters or other events that have occurred or may yet occur<\/strong>. What is more, those four days can be extended until the situation changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worry of losing your job, or of losing pay, for these reasons is over. This has been a fine example of “social responsibility” on the part of the State<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may even be argued that cases arising before the law came into force can be defended before the courts by applying the principle of the more favourable rule<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short: the right change, at the right moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":3860,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categorias-publicacion":[],"class_list":["post-21349","publicacion","type-publicacion","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmi.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publicacion\/21349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmi.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publicacion"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmi.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publicacion"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmi.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmi.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categorias-publicacion","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmi.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categorias-publicacion?post=21349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}