1. MANDATORY REGISTRATION OF SALARY AS OF 14 APRIL 2021
After the six month adaptation period established in Royal Decree 902/2020 of 13 October on equal pay for men and women, from 14 April 2021 all companies must keep a salary register. Broadly speaking, the register must reflect average rates of workers' remuneration, broken down by gender. The register must be updated on a yearly basis and it must set out the salaries of the entire workforce, including senior managers and executives.
2. COMPANIES DO NOT HAVE TO INCLUDE TEMPORARY AGENCY WORKERS IN THEIR SALARY REGISTER
On 26 April 2021, the General Directorate of Employment stated in response to a query that temporary employment agency workers should be included in the salary register of their temporary employment agency, not the user company that they are contracted out to. That said, user companies must take them into account for certain purposes related to their equality plans.
3. THE INFRINGEMENT OF A WORKER’S FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS DUE TO MONITORING MUST BE LINKED TO COMPENSATION
The Constitutional Court partially upheld the claim of a worker who was dismissed after her employer monitored her computer, in violation of her fundamental rights. The decision confirmed that if a court acknowledges a violation has occurred, it cannot omit ruling on the compensation due. It also avoided ruling on a dismissal as a result of inadmissible evidence obtained through violating fundamental rights, although it did not deny such possibility.
4. A WORKer CANNOT BE ENTITLED TO TEMPORARY LEAVE TO CARE FOR a NINE-YEAR-OLD SON with ACADEMIC PROBLEMS
The Supreme Court declared that article 46.3 of the Workers' Statute cannot be interpreted so broadly as to grant temporary leave to a mother who wishes to care for her nine-year-old son to improve his academic performance. If it were understood in this way, all, or almost all parents of children over the age of three would be entitled to a second leave of absence because the children were unable to fend for themselves.
5. THE GENERAL TREASURY OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY MAY DETERMINE THE CNAE CODE FOR THE PURPOSES OF CONTRIBUTIONS FOR OCCUPATIONAL ACCIDENTS AND ILLNESSES
The Supreme Court ruled that the General Treasury of the Social Security does not infringe any rules when determining the code of the National Classification of Economic Activities of a company for the purposes of contributions for occupational accidents and diseases. Although the legislation states that the National Statistics Institute "shall ensure the dissemination and maintenance of the CNAE", it does not follow that the National Statistics Institute must issue a binding report in these cases.
6. THE CRIMINAL case law OF a VICTIM'S TESTIMONY DOES NOT APPLY IN LABOUR JURISDICTION
In the context of a disciplinary dismissal proceeding for sexual harassment, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia ruled on the application of the presumption of innocence rule in the labour jurisdiction to determine if sexual harassment had occurred. It decided that the criminal case law of the "victim’s testimony" does not apply to the labour jurisdiction. However, in this case it was not necessary to apply this case law, since the proven facts were sufficient to determine that there had been sexual harassment. Therefore, the dismissal was held to be fair.
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