Employment - Legislative and case law developments

1. New legislation on employment termination due to permanent disability and changes to disability benefit

On 30 April of this year, Law 2/2025 of 29 April entered into force amending the revised text of the Statute of Workers on employment termination due to permanent disability, and the revised text of the General Social Security Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015 of 30 October on permanent disability. The amendment establishes that employers must generally make reasonable adjustments to enable workers with a disability to remain in the company.

2. Employee protection in transfers of undertakings can be set aside in specific cases involving insolvency

The CJEU has ruled that employee protection in TUPE transfers may be overridden in exceptional circumstances (even before the transfer agreement is approved and executed), if the company has been declared insolvent and the insolvency proceedings meet specific requirements.

3. Workplace collective agreements do not take precedence over sectoral ones in relation to wages

The Supreme Court has ruled that under both the previous and current wording of article 84.2 of the Statute of Workers, only company-wide agreements take precedence over sector-wide agreements in relation to wages. However, agreements for specific workplaces do not.

4. Iberia obliged to adopt health and safety measures in relation to hand luggage

The Supreme Court upholds National Court judgment and rules that Iberia must establish effective weight control and organisational measures for hand luggage. In addition, it must update its health and safety assessments with regard to a new cabin crew work uniform.

5. Supreme Court rules on a collective dispute regarding the nullity of some clauses in a remote working contract affecting 1,029 employees

Clauses limiting the right of fully remote workers to return to on-site work and attempting to prevent employee claims in the event of a company revoking their remote work authorisation have been declared unfair.

6. Part-time workers hired to work at weekends or on public holidays entitled to an unsocial hours allowance

The Supreme Court has ruled that a company violated its part-time workers’ right to equal treatment by not paying them an unsocial hours allowance for working at weekends or on public holidays, as it does for regular workers.

7. Collective dismissal at telecommunications company MasOrange declared valid

The National Court has declared that, for employment purposes, the group of companies had formed gradually over time and had therefore not been specifically formed to carry out the collective dismissal. Consequently, the consultation and dismissal were lawful.

8. Better breastfeeding leave conditions than those established in the Statute of Workers do not apply automatically

The National Court has clarified that that even if the applicable collective agreement provides better conditions than those set out in the Statue of Workers in relation to breastfeeding leave (i.e. absence from work, reduced working hours or converting the breaks into full working days), these conditions do not apply automatically. Instead, the worker must agree with their employer on how they will take this leave.