Improves social protection for part-time workers and touches transport and unemployment

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. It changes how contributions are counted for part-time workers to qualify for benefits such as retirement or maternity. A coefficient based on the share of the workday worked is applied, to equalize treatment with full-time workers.
2. The new contribution rule also applies to benefits already denied for not meeting the minimum required contribution period and to applications still being processed.
3. To receive unemployment benefits, people must register as job seekers and keep that registration for the whole period they receive benefits. It is made clear that leaving Spain for up to fifteen days a year does not remove the benefit, and that longer stays or moves abroad can suspend it if the managing body authorizes them.
4. The penalty system is adapted to the new unemployment requirements and electronic notices are strengthened when the worker has given prior consent. Notifying work incompatible with unemployment benefits must be done before starting the work.
5. For transfers, changes in working conditions, suspensions, collective dismissals and non-application of collective agreements, the consultation with workers takes place in a single negotiating committee of up to thirteen members, even if several workplaces are affected.
6. It clarifies when a collective dismissal is null and void, and allows court rulings declaring it null to be enforced directly, without prior individual lawsuits.
7. It caps increases in Aena airport fees through 2018, reforms how railway fees are calculated, and allows RENFE-Operadora to advance money to victims of the train accident of July 24, 2013.
8. Subsidized housing loans transferred to SAREBSAREB The company that manages assets from banking restructuring, that is, troubled assets transferred by financial institutions. keep their state aid, and more local entities and county councils can pay their suppliers through the supplier payment fund.

Who it affects

• Part-time workers: Their contribution periods for benefits are now counted in proportion to their hours, with new rules and retroactive application to earlier denials.
• Unemployment benefit recipients: They must register and stay registered as job seekers to receive and keep benefits, with new rules on travel abroad and penalties.
• Companies: Consultations with worker representatives take place in a single negotiating committee of up to thirteen members, and they must notify collective dismissals and suspensions in advance.
• RENFE-Operadora and railway companies: They can advance payments to victims of the July 24, 2013 rail accident and must have victim assistance plans.
• Subsidized housing holders and local entities: Loans transferred to SAREB keep their housing aid, and local entities with debts can join the supplier payment mechanism.

Words worth knowing

Coeficiente de parcialidad (part-time coefficient)

The percentage that part-time hours represent compared with a comparable full-time worker; used to calculate counted contribution days.

Despido colectivo (collective dismissal)

Termination of contracts affecting a significant number of workers in a company for economic, technical, organizational or production reasons.

Período de consultas (consultation period)

Phase in which the company negotiates with worker representatives before adopting measures such as a collective dismissal or contract suspension.

Cánones ferroviarios (railway fees)

Fees railway companies pay to use the tracks and rail infrastructure.

SAREB

The company that manages assets from banking restructuring, that is, troubled assets transferred by financial institutions.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries