Bill to curb abusive temporary contracts and boost job stability

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill would limit temporary hiring: temporary contracts would only be allowed for productive reasons (activity peaks) or organizational reasons (replacing someone with a job-return guarantee), and the task or service contract would disappear. Productive-reason contracts would last at most six months, extendable to one year by collective agreement.
2. Workers hired temporarily in breach of the new rules would become permanent employees, and their dismissal would be declared null. The bill also sets an end-of-contract payment of twenty days of salary per year of service and a minimum fifteen-day notice.
3. Part-time work would be reformed: complementary hours would be eliminated, paid overtime would be allowed, contracts must state start and end times, and workers could request reduced hours for training, career advancement or disability.
4. The permanent seasonal (fijo discontinuo) contract would be strengthened: employers must keep an annual census of these workers, follow an objective call-back order (by seniority if no agreement says otherwise) and may not replace them with temporary staff. Failure to call them back counts as a company breach.
5. Daily working-time records would be required for all workers, with a monthly copy for the worker and access for the Labor Inspectorate. Fraudulent use of temporary or part-time contracts would become a very serious offense.
6. The Government would have to set annual limits on the number of temporary contracts and raise their Social Security contributions, and within twelve months submit a bill on temporary public employment. The law would take effect the day after publication in the official gazette (BOE).

Who it affects

• Temporary and part-time workers: They could become permanent if their contract breaks the rules, and would get better hour records and more rights.
• Employers: They would have to justify every temporary contract, record everyone's daily hours, and face sanctions and forced conversions to permanent status if they fail.
• Permanent seasonal workers (fijos discontinuos): They would be entitled to a census, an objective call-back order and certificates of days worked.
• Public employment: The bill does not directly regulate their temporary work, but it requires the Government to prepare a specific law within twelve months.
• Labor Inspectorate: Inspection campaigns in hospitality and retail and working-time controls would be stepped up.

Words worth knowing

Contrato fijo discontinuo

A permanent contract for seasonal or campaign work: the person works only when the company calls them back.

Horas complementarias

Extra hours an employer could impose on a part-time worker; the bill eliminates them.

Estatuto de los Trabajadores

Spain's main labor law, the Workers' Statute.

Proposición de ley

A bill proposed in Congress that still must be debated and passed; it is not in force.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries