Employment Contracts: Types, Rights, and Obligations
The Employment Contract
Can you work legally without a work contract? Can a minor work legally? What is probation? Is there a single contract or a plurality?
All workers have the right to know their working conditions, even if the employment contract is verbal. They may require at any time that the labor contract be made in writing to confirm their working conditions. It is important to know, although it seems obvious, that you should not sign any document without reading it carefully, as blank documents could be used fraudulently (e.g., an alleged resignation, termination, an acknowledgment of debt, etc.).
The Employment Contract
The employment contract is an agreement between the employer and employee. The worker provides a service for a fee. The signature (which expresses the consent) of the contract marks the start of employment and generates a series of rights and obligations.
There are two main requirements: one corresponding to the worker through the implementation of the work done, and another corresponding to the employer through the economic rewards of the work done (salary).
Working Capacity
What people can enter into a contract of employment? Can a minor work?
We must clarify at the outset two important legal concepts: the concept of legal capacity and capacity to act. Legal capacity is the ability or aptitude to hold rights and obligations, and the capacity to act involves the ability to perform certain legal acts which have full legal validity, e.g., buying or leasing a property. Not everyone can enter into a contract of employment while respecting the rules on legal capacity and acting.
Who Has the Ability to Hire?
- The elderly (18 years or older)
- Children under 18 years emancipated
- People aged 16 and under 18 years if they have permission from parents or from whom it is responsible
- Foreigners in accordance with applicable law
Who Cannot Be Hired?
- Minors (under 16), except in public performances with the authorization of their parents, guardians, and the labor authorities
- People with disabilities (depending on the specific disability and applicable law)
- Foreigners who do not meet the requirements of applicable law
The employment contract may be concluded in writing or verbally. Most employment contracts are in writing. Only ordinary permanent contracts and contracts with a duration of less than four weeks can be verbal. However, either party, employer or employee, may demand that the contract be made in writing at any time.
The written employment contract must contain the following data:
- Identity of the parties
- Workplace
- Length of contract (start and end date if temporary)
- Working hours
- Base salary and allowances
- Category or job description
- It should also include the duration of the holiday and the collective agreement
The Trial Period
In the employment contract, there is usually a term or condition of probation. This clause is optional and should always be written, i.e., if there is no written employment contract, it does not exist. During the trial period, the worker has the same rights and obligations as the rest of his companions. Also, the contract may be terminated by either party without giving any reason.
The duration shall be established in collective agreements and in any event shall not exceed:
- Six months for qualified technicians
- Two months for other workers
- In companies with fewer than 25 employees, the probationary period may not exceed three months for workers who are not certified technicians
Conditions of Employment Contracts
There is not a single type of employment contract but a plurality. We use this classification:
Permanent Employment Contracts (Fixed):
- Undefined ordinary
- Indefinite subsidized
- Fixed intermittent
Employment Contracts of Limited Duration (Temporary):
TRAINING:
- Training
- Practice
TRADITIONAL:
- Temporary
- Work or service
- Temporary due to production
- Relay
- Replacement for retirement
Employed Full or Partial
Other contracts:
- Teamwork
- Work at home
Permanent Contract
These are contracts where there is no time limit on the provision of services performed by the worker.
1. Regular Permanent
Can be made in writing or orally and is always full-time. It was the typical employment contract. Today the opposite is true, as there are many workers with high job insecurity.
2. Indefinite Bonus Contract
These are intended to encourage permanent hiring of certain groups of unemployed workers, including:
- Women in general
- Women who are employed in the 24 months following the date of the birth or adoption or foster care, whether pre-permanent
- Women who return to employment after five years of inactivity if they previously had been in a situation of (working and insured) at least three years
- Workers who have accredited the status of gender violence, without requiring the status of unemployed
- Unemployed workers in situations of social exclusion
- Unemployed workers with family responsibilities
- Workers over 45 years
- Workers under 30 years
- Workers with disabilities
- Workers continuously registered as unemployed at the Employment Office for at least six (6) months
These contracts have in common, besides the indefinite, the following:
- Workers must be registered as unemployed in labor offices
- Contracts must be written on the official form
- The employer receives a bonus in the Social Security contributions in the recruitment of persons belonging to these groups
3. Fixed Intermittent Contract
The worker is fixed in the company but performs their work on an unknown date.
Fixed-Term Contract or Temporary
If permanent contracts were those with no time limit on the provision of services, temporary contracts, however, do have limits. They are contracts that have a fixed term. Among the temporary contracts are distinguished:
Training Contracts
Training Contract
This contract is intended that the worker acquires the necessary theoretical and practical training for an occupation or job. As characteristics of this contract can be noted:
- The employee must be over 16 and under 21. The age limit does not apply when the contract is with some groups.
- The duration of this contract shall not be less than 6 months nor more than two years. Collective agreement may extend the maximum duration of 3 years or 4 if a disabled worker, taking into account the type or degree of disability and the characteristics of the learning process to be performed.
- Workers who have not been discharged (whether working with Social Security) will acquire the status of regular workers.
- The workday will be full-time, and part of it has to be devoted to theoretical training.
- The salary is set out in the collective agreement and can not be less than the minimum wage in proportion to the time actually worked, so do not count the time devoted to theoretical training.
- The contract must be in writing using the official form.
- You are not entitled to unemployment benefits because the employee is not listed for unemployment.
Contract in Practice
The purpose of this contract is to hire people who have completed their studies and facilitate the provision of professional practice appropriate to the level of studies.
Workers must meet the following requirements:
- Possession of a college degree, vocational training or higher level, or other equivalent qualification recognized officially.
- No more than four years have passed after the completion of studies or from validation if the qualification was obtained abroad. If this is a disabled worker, it will be within six years.
Other features of this contract:
- Duration: a minimum of six months and a maximum of two years.
- Day: full-time or part-time.
- Form: Written
- Salary: Will be fixed in the collective agreement, but may be less than 60% during the first year and 75% in the second set wage for a worker who performs the same or equivalent job. The amounts payable may in any case be less than minimum wage.
- Businesses entering into contracts for training with people with disabilities will have a reduction of 50% of the employer’s contribution for common contingencies.
Traditional Term Contracts
These contracts are made to cover specific temporary needs of the business. These include:
Work Contract or Service
The purpose of this contract is the making of a work or service. When you complete the work or service, the contract ends. The contract must be in writing, clearly identifying the work or service under contract. It may be full or partial. At the end of the contract, the worker is entitled to an allowance of eight days’ wages per year worked, or the share or to be established in the collective agreement. If the duration exceeds one year, it requires a notice of fifteen (15) days before the end of the work or service.
2010 Labor Reform
When the worker is hired to perform a work or service, with autonomy and proper nouns in the activity of the company and the execution, although limited in time, is in principle uncertain duration. These contracts may last no longer than three years, extendable to twelve months by sectoral collective agreement for state or, alternatively, for sector-wide collective agreement below. After these periods, workers acquire the status of permanent employees of the company.
Contract for Production Circumstances
This contract is made to meet specific market demands or excessive backlog of orders, even for normal activity of the company. This contract is typical at the time of Christmas and Epiphany, as businesses increase sales considerably, they have more orders and need to hire staff. Must be in writing if it is part-time or the duration is greater than four weeks. At the end of the contract, the worker is entitled to an allowance of eight days’ wages per year worked, or the share or to be established in the collective agreement.
Interim Agreement
This contract is for the replacement of workers who are absent for certain reasons but are entitled to the reservation of his job. Also performed to temporarily fill a job for the duration of the process of selection or promotion to the post is permanently covered. Must be in writing. The employer can reduce the employer’s contribution if you try to fill positions vacated by maternity leave, childcare leave, etc.
Replacement Contracts
It is concluded that an unemployed person or were in the company on a temporary contract to partially replace a worker in the new entrant to the pension partially.
Agreement in Lieu of Anticipation of Retirement Age
Its purpose is the recruitment of unemployed workers to replace workers who anticipate their retirement age from 65 to 64 years.
Part-Time Contracts
This is a contract that is now quite common. It is done when it comes to providing services for a certain number of hours per day, week, month, or a year less than the journey of a comparable full-time worker (Article 12 ET).
It must be in writing and its duration may be indefinite or temporary.