Browse through brief employment and labor law updates from around the globe. Contact a Littler attorney for more information or view our global locations.

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Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI)

New Order or Decree

Author: Sonia Cortés García, Partner – Abdón Pedrajas | Littler

On February 23, 2022, the Official State Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado or BOE) published Royal Decree 152/2022, of February 22, which sets the interprofessional minimum wage (Salario Mínimo Interprofesional or SMI) for 2022, to be paid from January 1 to December 31, 2022. The new amounts, which represent an increase of 3.63% with respect to those provided for in a previous decree, are as follows: (i) EUR 33.33 per day or EUR 1,000 per month, depending on whether the salary is fixed by days or by months, for any activities in agriculture, industry, and services, without distinction of sex or age of the workers; (ii) EUR 47.36 per legal working day for temporary workers and for seasonal workers whose services to the same company do not exceed 120 days; and (iii) EUR 7.82 per hour effectively worked for domestic employees who provide services on an hourly basis, in an external regime, and in accordance with Royal Decree 1620/2011, of November 14.

The RED Mechanism for Employment Flexibility and Stabilization

New Order or Decree

Author: Sonia Cortés García, Partner – Abdón Pedrajas | Littler

Royal Decree 4/2022 of March 15, 2022, establishes the RED Fund and the transitional rules for its financing and the procedure applicable to the RED Mechanism, which will allow companies to apply for measures to reduce working hours and suspend employment contracts. This decree provides for the creation of the RED Fund for Employment Flexibility and Stabilization regulated in article 47 bis.6 of the Workers’ Statute (ET), the purpose of which is to cover future financing needs arising from the RED Mechanism in relation to social security benefits and exemptions, including the costs associated with training.

Likewise, it also establishes the rules for the transitory coverage of the financing of the RED Fund as long as it is not sufficiently funded to meet its financial needs. In this regard, the procedure applicable to the RED Mechanism (an employment flexibility and stabilization instrument which, once activated by the Council of Ministers, will allow companies to request measures for the reduction of working hours and the suspension of employment contracts) is also regulated. The RED Mechanism does not yet have its own regulatory framework. Therefore, the Government has established the application of the Regulation through the procedures for collective termination and suspension of contracts and reduction of working hours (Royal Decree 1483/2012), pending the approval of its own regulations.

Mandatory Equality Plan for Companies with More than 50 Employees

New Regulation or Official Guidance

Author: Sonia Cortés García, Partner – Abdón Pedrajas | Littler

Companies with more than 50 employees are required to have equality plans for their workforce as of March 7, 2022, under the Royal Decree-Law on urgent measures to ensure equal treatment of March 7, 2019, which gave these companies three years to implement. Likewise, equality plans were already mandatory for companies with more than 250 employees before the approval of the aforementioned regulation. In this sense, and as of 2020, the equality plans were also mandatory for companies with between 151 and 250 employees: (1) Companies with 50 to 100 employees, by March 7, 2022; (2) companies with 101 to 150 employees, by March 7, 2021; and (3) companies with 151 to 250 employees, by March 7, 2020.

This requirement affects both private companies and public bodies or institutions, as well as non-profit organizations or associations. Furthermore, companies with less than 50 employees are not required to have an equality plan, unless required by the applicable collective bargaining agreement or by the labor authority as a sanctioning measure.