I work in a company on the basis of an open-ended contract. An opportunity has come along that would give a boost to my professional profile and I was wondering if I had the right to request extended leave of absence.
Voluntary extended leave of absence can be requested by workers who have been working in their posts for at least one year (unless the Collective Labour Agreement has improved this by establishing lower length-of-service requirements), provided that no such request has been made during the previous four years.
There is a two-fold limit on voluntary extended leave of absence: the period involved must be at least two years and at most five years (unless the Collective Labour Agreement has improved this by reducing the maximum or increasing the minimum period).
Voluntary leave of absence does not guarantee that the workers' posts will be held for them; it just gives them a preferential right to fill any vacancies of the same or similar category arising in the company. So, a job is not retained for an employee and there is no guarantee that the employee will be reinstated to their former post.
What are the requirements for setting up a Temporary Employment Agency?
Under the provisions of article 2 of the Law on Temporary Employment Agencies (Law 14/1994 of 1 June), private individuals or corporations wishing to undertake the work associated with a Temporary Employment Agency (empresa de treball temporal - ETT) must first be granted authorisation by the authorities, and to obtain it they must meet a number of requirements:
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They must have an organisational structure capable of complying with the obligations such Agencies must meet (scale, facilities available at the work centre, the number and skills of workers in the Agency's workforce etc.).
- They must devote themselves solely to the work associated with such agencies.
- They must be up-to-date with their tax and Social-Security payments.
- They must not have been ordered to suspend their activities on two or more occasions in the past.
- They must include the tag «empresa de treball temporal» [temporary employment agency] in their company name.
- They must fund a financial guarantee - or provide a third-party guarantee - ensuring that they can meet their salary and Social Security obligations for the workers engaged in.
What duties do Temporary Employment Agencies have with respect to worker training?
What effect do collective redundancy procedures have for workers?
The effects of a collective redundancy procedure ('expedient de regulació d'ocupació') depend on the specific measure authorised in each case:
a) If the procedure is for collective dismissal, the employment contracts of the workers concerned are terminated, and the workers are then entitled to compensation - for each year they have worked they get 20 days' salary, with a limit of 12 months' pay - and also to unemployment benefit and/or unemployment assistance (if they meet the necessary requirements), as the termination of employment contracts as a result of a collective redundancy procedure gives rise to a situation of legal unemployment. Lastly, it should be borne in mind that the agreement reached by workers' representatives and employers during consultation periods often involve terms that are better than the legally-required minimum terms, in that they recognise other rights for the workers concerned (supplements for their unemployment benefits, commitments to redeploy workers, etc.).
b) If the procedure involves temporary lay-offs or reduced working hours, the workers concerned do not work for the number of days and/or working hours envisaged in the measures adopted; their salaries are then reduced proportionally, and they are not entitled to any compensation, though they are entitled to unemployment benefit and/or assistance when they meet the requirements stipulated. Here too the agreements reached by workers' representatives and employers during the consultations period very often involve recognition for additional rights for the workers concerned (supplementary benefits in addition to their unemployment benefit, the right to attend training or retraining courses etc.).
Where can I find a copy of the Collective Labour Agreement applying to me?
The text of the Collective Agreement, if it applies solely to the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, can be found inthe Government of Catalonia's State Gazette (Diari Official de la Generalitat de Catalunya - DOGC); if the agreement covers a larger area, and for companies with work centres outside Catalonia, it is published in the Spanish State Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado- BOE).
You can consult the Collective Labour Agreements on the Employment Department's website > Collective Agreements.
I have decided to leave my present employer because another company has made me a more attractive offer. Do I have to give my present company advance notice?
This case is viewed as a case of resignation and, to resign, the Workers' Statute requires that advance notice be given by workers to the employer; how far in advance is a matter covered by the Collective Labour Agreement applying or, if there is none, by custom. So the first thing to do is to find out whether the Collective Agreement applying makes any stipulations as regards the notice period. If the Collective Agreement sets no requirements, the employer must be given 15 days' notice (this period of notice - the period set for terminating contracts made for over a year - is the one that usually applies in cases of resignation when the relevant Collective Agreement makes no specific provisions for giving notice).Failing to give notice, or not giving enough notice, entitles the employer to compensation for loss or damage (the usual arrangement being to make a deduction from the final payment equivalent to the salary for the number of days missing from the number of days notice actually given).
What are the 2008 holidays in my town?
You can consult the official calendar of public holidays for Catalonia for 2008, these being paid holidays with no duty to recover the hours' work lost (as stipulated by the State Gazette of Catalonia, issue 4907 of 19 June 2007), and the calendar of local holidays within Catalonia for 2008 (as stipulated in the State Gazette of the Government of Catalonia, issue 5023 of 5 December 2007), which can also be consulted on the website of the Employment Department.
I've been dismissed from my job. What can I do about it?
If you think that the dismissal - or the termination of a temporary-employment contract - is unjustified, you can challenge the dismissal within 20 working days from the day after the date of dismissal; thereafter, you lose that right entirely.That period is suspended if a conciliation request is made to the public body dealing with mediation, arbitration and conciliation, since before submitting a complaint to the industrial-relations tribunals, an attempt at conciliation must have been made through the relevant official body (the Servei de Mediacions, Arbitratge i Conciliacions -SMAC- run by the Employment Department's Serveis Territorials, the address in Barcelona being Carrer Albareda number 2-4), or the other 'Serveis Territorials' in Girona, Lleida, Tarragona and Terres de l'Ebre.
To lodge a complaint, the assistance of a lawyer must be provided, and for the purpose of calculating the payment, if applicable, free support can be obtained from the Justice Department's Legal Advice Service in Barcelona, , at number 41 Ronda de Sant Pere (5th floor) (working hours): from 9.00 am to 2.00 pm).
If it is eventually decided that the dismissal was indeed unfair, the employer will have to choose, within five days from being notified of the tribunal's decision, between reinstating the worker and paying the relevant wages, or paying the worker compensation amounting to 45 days' salary for every year worked, with periods of less than a year being calculated in months on a pro-rata basis, the cap on the compensation being 42 months' salary.
If it is eventually decided that the dismissal is null and void, the result will be the immediate reinstatement of the worker, paying the salary payments he or she had lost.
I am a businessman and for organisational reasons I can not comply with reserving 2% of the jobs for contracting people with disabilities. I have heard that there are alternative measures. What are they?
The measures alternatives consist of:
- Civil or mercantile contracts with special employment centres (CET) or self-employed people with disabilities.
- Donations and monetary sponsorship for certain foundations and public service associations.
- In labour enclaves contracted from special employment centres.
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What administrative bodies are competent for alternative measures inside and outside Catalonia?
If the company has all its centres in Catalonia, or at least 85% of the employees:
- the General Directorate of Labour Relations of the Ministry of Employment (except for economic, technical, organisational or productive reasons).
- the Territorial Services of the Catalan Employment Service (except for non-coverage of employment offers).
In all other cases: the Spanish Government Employment Service.
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