More control in collective dismissals. An amendment agreed upon in the employment bill being processed by Congress will give the Labor Inspectorate more capacity to monitor possible irregularities by companies filing an ERE.
Specifically, the Inspectorate will have the legal obligation to certify whether the reasons alleged by the company to justify the dismissals are met and whether the documentation provided complies with that required by regulations, depending on the reason alleged for dismissal.
The amendment, already incorporated into the bill, modifies the regulation of collective dismissals in the Workers' Statute. Currently, the rule establishes that the Inspectorate informs the labor authority about the company's compliance with communication obligations and the consultation period with worker representation.
This report is mandatory, is incorporated into the procedure, and must be carried out within 15 days from the notification to the labor authority of the end of the consultation period.
The modification is the result of the agreement between PSOE and Unidas Podemos with EH-Bildu, in an effort to secure the latter's support for the new employment law. The bill overcame its vote in the Commission for Work, Inclusion, Social Security, and Migrations this Monday and will be approved in the Plenary Session of Congress next week and sent to the Senate.
During the votes in the Commission, the amendment was approved with votes from PSOE, Unidas Podemos, ERC, PNV, Bildu, and Compromís, while PP, Vox, and Ciudadanos voted against it.
A major issue in the last reform
The control of collective dismissals was one of the major issues in the last labor reform. The Government's partners did not conceive of endorsing a reform without recovering the guarantees lost in 2012.
At that time, administrative authorization by the labor authority disappeared, a process that gave works councils more opportunities to reach an agreement with the company.
However, the labor reform agreed upon by the Ministry of Labor with the employers' association CEOE and the unions CCOO and UGT focused on ending excessive temporality, leaving other aspects of the previous reform deemed "harmful" in the background.
Said authorization was not recovered, and both the Ministry and Unidas Podemos emphasized the need to complete the reform with more measures.
Among them, the modernization of the Workers' Statute where, predictably, aspects not addressed in the reform would be fulfilled.
Without being the recovery of administrative authorization from the labor authority, the greater powers of the Inspection granted now increase control over these dismissals.