On December 30, 2021, Royal Decree-Law 32/2021, of December 28, on urgent measures for labor reform, the guarantee of stability in employment and the transformation of the labor market, was published, entering into force the next day, with the exception of certain precepts, for which a vacatio legis of three months is foreseen, since companies will have this time to adapt current temporary contracts to the new legislation and six months. in the case of contracts for work and service.

There are four key aspects that stand out in this new Royal Decree Law

1. Modernization of collective bargaining

• Indefinite ultra-activity is recovered, the conditions established in a collective agreement will remain in force even though its express validity ends.
• The salary prevalence of the employment agreement is repealed  company, in this way the sectoral agreements will set the minimum wages.

2. Simplification of contracts

Disappearance of contracts for work and service and modifications in the temporary hiring of workers.

• Contracts are presumed to be concluded for an indefinite period.
• There will only be a fixed-term contract, which may be concluded due to production circumstances or due to the replacement of the worker.
• Disincentives to penalize excessive rotation of very short-term contracts, which is why a fixed amount penalty is introduced for each withdrawal from a temporary contract. The penalty in force until now is replaced by one that introduces a greater disincentive the shorter the contracts are.
• Temporary contracts with durations of less than 30 days will have a  price to the  Social security additional €26 when they unsubscribe. This measure entails an increasing penalty.
• Exceptionally, these contributions that we refer to in the previous paragraph will not be applicable to the special regimes for agricultural employees, domestic workers, coal mining workers, nor to substitution contracts.

Fixed-term contract

• To celebrate this type of contract, it will be an essential requirement that the  enabling cause for temporary hiring, the circumstances that justify it and its connection with the planned duration. It must also be specified for works of a seasonal nature or seasonal productive activities, as well as those that do not have the previous nature but that, being of intermittent provision, have certain, determined or indeterminate execution periods.
• The RDL defines the  production circumstances concept In the case of a fixed-term contract due to production circumstances, it is understood as the occasional and unpredictable increase in activity or those oscillations that generate a temporary employment mismatch in the company. The expected duration of this type of contract will be six months, and may be extended for a maximum of another 6 months.
• Contracts of a fixed duration due to production circumstances They also contemplate contracts for occasional situations and of reduced and limited duration, which can be used for a total period of 90 days, never continuously, during which contracting will be allowed for these situations that must be duly identified in the contract. During this time, companies may enter into temporary contracts with causes that, although foreseeable, have a reduced and limited duration within the permanent contract.
• Replacement of workers with job reservation: a fixed-term contract may also be entered into to replace people during a suspension of the contract with job reservation to cover reduced hours due to legal or conventional reasons, as well as to fill vacancies during a selection process. In the latter case, the duration of the contract may not exceed three months. Discontinuous fixed contract.
• Training actions: workers who are subject to this type of contract will be the preferred group for training actions, without prejudice to the fact that sectoral agreements may establish employment pools to encourage their hiring to improve their training during periods when they are inactive.

Training contracts

They are limited to two modalities:

• Alternation training contract, They can be arranged with people of any age, with the exception of the Catalog of Professional Qualifications, with a limit of up to 30 years and with a maximum duration of two years. The hours may not be greater than 65% during the first year and 85% the second, without the possibility of working overtime, shift work or night shifts. The remuneration must be adapted to the agreement and may not be less than 60% the first year and 75% the second year, in any case it will never be less than the  SMI proportional to the day that is carried out.
• Contracts to obtain professional practice, These may be held after 3 years from when the certification was obtained, and may last between 6 months and 1 year. In people with disabilities, they may be held after 5 years from obtaining the certification.

3. Modernization of contracting and subcontracting of business activities

• There will always be an applicable sectoral Collective Agreement, this may be that of the activity carried out by the main company or another, prior determination by sectoral collective bargaining, as long as it is within its general rules. In the event that essential activities are carried out for the development of the company, the sectoral agreement of the activity carried out by the contractor or subcontractor will apply to the workers.
• Application of the company agreement, the company agreement may only be applied by the contractor if it determines better salary conditions than those of the sector that is applicable.

4. Establishment of a permanent mechanism for flexibility and stabilization of employment The existing ERTE model is reviewed and the RED mechanism is created.

• ERTE ETOP With the intention of facilitating processing and flexibility, the consultation period: 

-It is reduced to 7 days for companies with less than 50 workers, after establishing the representative commission.

- Information on the representation of workers is reinforced during the application of the ERTE.

- The prohibitions on overtime and outsourcing of the current ERTE COVID are incorporated.

• ERTE due to force majeure

-To the current force majeure is added, as a specific cause, the impediment or limitations to normalized activity determined by decisions from the government authority.

-It will be necessary to provide a mandatory report from the Labor Inspection.

-The labor authority must resolve within 5 days, with positive silence.

-The reduction in working hours may be between 10 and 70%. During the period of validity of the ERTE, the company may affect and disaffect workers, as in the previously mentioned ERTE ETOP, prior information to the legal representation of the workers and communication to the  TGSS. They maintain the guarantees in the employment of the current ERTE COVID.

For both modalities, a series of elements created as a result of the COVID ERTE are incorporated, the possibility of affecting and disaffecting workers depending on the company's activity, increasing the flexibility of these instruments; the possibility of obtaining bonuses in social contributions and financing if they develop training activities for workers in ERTE; and exemptions from Social Security contributions. In the case of ERTE ETOP, they will be 20%, conditional on carrying out training actions, and in the case of Force Majeure, 90%.

They will be linked to maintaining the employment of the current COVID ERTE and companies will see an increase in the credit available for training. The exemptions regulated in the thirty-ninth additional provision. Benefits in  price to the Social Security applicable to the temporary employment regulation files and the RED mechanism, which will be financed with contributions from the State, will be borne by the budgets of the Social Security, the mutual societies collaborating with the  Social security, of the  SEPE and of  FOGASA, regarding the exemptions that correspond to each of them.

• RED mechanism for flexibility and stabilization in employment

It must be activated by the Council of Ministers, after informing the most representative organizations, at the proposal of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation; Work and Social Economy and Inclusion, Social Security and Migration; which is responsible for opening the door but not for deciding whether the companies, individually, can join. The labor authority will give the green light if the company has developed a consultation period and if there are concurrent causes, therefore, the reasons must be justified. This RED mechanism will have two modalities:

-Cyclic, when a general macroeconomic situation is appreciated that advises the adoption of additional stabilization instruments, with a maximum duration of one year.

-Sectoral, when in a certain sector or sectors of activity there are permanent changes that generate needs for requalification and professional transition processes of workers, with a maximum initial duration of one year and the possibility of two extensions of six months each.

Working people will receive 70% of the  regulatory basis throughout the entire period (up to a maximum of 225% of the  IPREM). In both modalities, you will be able to access exemptions from Social Security. In the cyclical modality, during the first 4 months they will have an exemption of 60%, between the fifth and eighth months, 30% and 20% from the ninth.

In the sectoral modality, they will be 40%, conditional on the completion of training activities.