Spain's Ministry of Labour and Social Economy has initiated tripartite negotiations involving government, labour unions and employer organizations to implement measures for real and effective LGBTI equality in the workplace.
The negotiations aim to give effectiveness to Law 4/2023, which mandates companies with over 50 employees to adopt specific measures and resources for LGBTI equality, including protocols for addressing harassment or violence.
On 10 May 2023, social partners signed the V Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (V Acuerdo para el Empleo y la Negociación Colectiva, AENC).
It was signed by all the trade unions CCOO and UGT and the employers' associations CEOE and CEPYME.
It aims to enrich the content of collective bargaining and adapt it to the changes and realities in the labour market, as well as to address content that contributes to tackling structural problems such as inequality between women and men or preserving the health and safety of workers.
On 21 February 2023, Spain published in the Official State Journal Law 2/2023 on protecting persons who report breaches of law and combating corruption.
It entered into force on 13 March, transposing Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of 23 October 2019, known as the Whistleblowing Directive.
On 20 February 2023, the Spanish Parliament approved modifications to the law on sexual and reproductive health and abortion. The new law - passed by 185 votes in favour to 154 against - includes a new regulation on sick leave due to 'secondary incapacitating menstruation, becoming the first country in Europe to advance such legislation.
According to a recent ruling by Spain’s Supreme Court, employees dismissed during the Covid-19 pandemic are not automatically entitled to reinstatement.
The decision of 19 October 2022 clarifies an interpretative doubt that had led to the assumption that any dismissal linked to the Covid 19 crisis was forbidden, entailing its automatic nullity and the consequent reinstatement of the dismissed workers.
According to the latest data, absenteeism at work is a phenomenon that has been growing enormously in recent times especially after the pandemic and can have a significant impact on business.
The last edition of the Staffing Executive Regulatory Outlook (SERO) presents the result of a survey to executives of staffing national federations around the world on the probability and potential impact of regulatory changes in the industry within the next six months.
In India, Italy and Mexico, the provisions are that regulation changes for staffing industry will have an overall strong and positive impact on the sector, while Belgium, Norway, Germany and Sweden are expected to have the most negative impact.