Workplace Regulations and Employee Rights
Workplace Health and Safety
1. Concept of Health and Safety at Work:
These are the measures taken during the performance of work to prevent risks and diseases that may occur to the operator.
Characteristics of Legal Branches
2. Characteristics of Legal Branches:
- Generality and Abstraction: Rules of conduct are established that apply to everyone.
- Bilateral: Governs relations and rights.
- State Origin: The obligation to comply with the rule, providing sanctions for noncompliance, originates from the State.
- Coercibility: Ability to implement the necessary tools to enforce the rule if it is not voluntarily complied with.
Sources of Workplace Law
3. Sources of Workplace Law:
According to Article 3 of the Workers’ Statute:
- Laws and regulations of the State.
- Collective agreements.
- Will of the parties, manifested in the contract.
- Local customs and practices.
- Jurisprudence.
Capacity to Contract
4. Capacity to Contract:
Article 7 of the Workers’ Statute provides who has the capacity to contract:
A) People who have full capacity to contract under the civil code.
B) Individuals under 18 and over 16 who are independent of their parents or guardian.
C) Foreigners with residence and work permits.
Internship Contract
5. Internship Contract:
Requires a university degree, higher-level vocational training, or equivalent.
Relief Contract
6. Relief Contract:
This contract aims for the provision of services by an employee (reliever) during part of the day of a worker who is partially retired.
The contract can only be made with a worker registered as unemployed in the relevant employment office.
The contract will last for the remainder of the substituted employee’s time until they are entitled to regular retirement pension, and in no case exceed 5 years.
It’s a part-time contract, agreed upon between the employee and the company, reducing working hours and wages by a minimum of 30% and a maximum of 77%.
Worker Rights
7. Worker Rights:
Basic Rights under Article 4 of the Workers’ Statute:
- Work and free choice of employment.
- Freedom of association.
- Collective bargaining.
- Adoption of collective action.
- Strike.
- Assembly.
- Effective occupation.
- Promotion and vocational training at work.
- Non-discrimination in employment.
- Physical integrity.
- Timely payment of wages.
Wage Types
8. Wage Types:
- Cash Salary: Paid in cash, check, or wire transfer.
- Wages in Kind: Paid with goods such as a car, home, shelter, water, and light.
- Per Unit of Time: By the hour, day, week, month, or year (normal salary).
- Per Unit of Work: The more hours you work, the more you earn.
- By Category: According to job category.
- Commission: The worker’s pay includes a fixed amount plus commission.
- Qualification: Pay varies according to the valuation of the job.
Minimum Wage Indicators
9. Indicators for Setting the Minimum Wage:
- Price Indicators
- Average national productivity.
- Increasing the share of labor in national income.
- Economic conditions.
It is currently €624. It is not subject to garnishment except for the payment of alimony.
Probationary Period
10. Probationary Period:
Regulated in Article 14 of the Workers’ Statute.
Maximum duration:
- 6 months for graduates
- 2 months for other workers
During this time, the worker has the same rights and duties as if they were a permanent part of the workforce.
In companies with fewer than 25 employees, this period may not exceed 3 months for workers who are not qualified technicians.
Functional Mobility
11. Functional Mobility:
Changing the worker’s job so that they perform functions other than those usually performed.
Displacement
12. Displacement:
The temporary transfer of a worker to a place different from their habitual residence for the provision of services.
Causes must always be justified: technical, organizational, or production.
The posting cannot exceed 3 months in a year or 12 months in 3 years.