- Phase
- Statute of Workers’ Rights; Royal Decree law 10/2010 of 16 June on urgent measures to reform the labour market; Law 3/2012 of 6 July on urgent measures to reform the labour market
- Native name
- Estatuto de los Trabajadores (ET); Real-Decreto ley 10/2010, de 16 de junio, de medidas urgentes para la reforma del mercado de trabajo; Ley 3/2012, de 6 de julio, de medidas urgentes para la reforma del mercado laboral
- Type
- Severance pay/redundancy compensation
- Added to database
- 08 May 2015
Article
Art. 33; 47 (modified by article 13.1 of Law 3/2012); 49 (modified by article 1.7 of Royal-Decree law 10/2010); 51 (modified by article 18.3 of Law 3/2012) ; 52; 56 (modified by article 18.7 of Law 3/2012) of Statute of Workers' Rights
Description
In the event of fair dismissal, legislation requires that employees are paid a minimum legal compensation of 20 days’ pay for each year of service, up to a maximum of 12 months’ pay.
In the event of unfair dismissal of an employee who had an open-ended contract, legislation requires that employees are paid a minimum legal compensation of 33 days’ pay for each year of service, up to a maximum of 24 months’ pay.
In enterprises of fewer than 25 employees, the Public Fund of Wage Warranty (Fondo de Garantía Salarial) will pay 40% of the legal indemnification of employees in collective redundancies (within 90 days, more than 5 employees made redundant if the whole workforce is affected; at least 10 employees in companies with fewer than 100 employees; 10% of the employees in companies between 100 and 299 employees; and at least 30 employees in companies with more than 299 employees).
Severance pay for temporary contracts was modified by Royal Decree 10/2010. It established that the severance pay will increase annually by one day per year of service, from the eight days per year of service paid in 2010 to 12 days as of 1 January 2015. Thus, severance pay for temporary contracts is now fixed at 12 days per year worked. If the employer dismisses a temporary worker before his/her contract expires and dismissal is declared unfair, severance pay will be equal to 33 days’ pay for each year of service, up to maximum of 24 months’ pay.
Temporary substitutes that replace workers (for example, for maternity leave) do not receive severance payment.
Sources
- DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities/Héra (2011), Selected companies’ legal obligations regarding restructuring
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Ius Laboris (2009), Collective Redundancies Guide, Brussels
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Alpha Consulting (2003), Anticipating and Managing Change - A dynamic approach to the social aspects of corporate restructuring, Brussels, European Commission
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Rodriguez, R. and Calvo, J. (2010), National background paper Spain, Anticipating and managing restructuring in enterprises: 27 national seminars, ARENAS Report, European Commission, Brussels
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OECD (2013), The 2012 labour market reform in Spain: a preliminary assessment
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Statute of Workers’ Rights
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Royal Decree law 10/2010
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Law 3/2012
Citation
Eurofound (2015), Spain: Severance pay/redundancy compensation, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin,
https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/severance-payredundancy-compensation/spain