Report on redundancies according to current Spanish Social Security Laws

My aim with this report is at giving some hints about how voluntary redundancies and some dismissals work, in order to have a general idea about the economic and legal consequences.
In case of dealing with a case, I strongly suggest to contact our office to clarify matters and amounts.

  1. Voluntary departure.

The employee can leave the employment at any time.
The only due amounts would be the compensation for the holiday time that the employee could not have. Also, if the firm is not paying the extra June and Christmas bonuses month by month, the employee will have the right to receive the proportion already earned in the year.
For example, if an employee leaves at the end of March, he would have the right to have 2,5 days of holidays per month worked. Then, if the employee cannot have his holidays because he does not work in the firm anymore he would have the right to receive 7,5 days of salary instead (2,5 days of holidays x 3 months working – Remember that holidays are calculated on annual basis)
The employee has to warn about the departure with some time in advance. In case of leaving from one day to the next the employee can lose the right to be paid for holidays.
No economic redundancy compensation compensation to be paid by the firm.

2. Lawful dismissal for misconduct.

In case that the employee doesn’t accomplish its duty it can be made redundant.

This entitles a procedure which must be checked at all times by your Labour advisor.

The only due amounts would be the compensation for the holiday time that the employee could not have. Also, if the firm is not paying the extra June and Christmas bonuses month by month, the employee will have the right to receive the proportion already earned in the year.

No economic redundancy compensation to be paid by the firm.

3. Dismissal for economic reasons.

In case that the business has had economic losses or important revenue decrease for the last three quarters the firm can make employees redundant on those grounds.

There will be a redundancy compensation to be paid to the dismissed employees for 20 days of salary per worked year, that is to say, for every year that the employee has been working in the firm.

There must be a 15-days notice to the employee.

There will be also compensation for the holiday time that the employee could not have or bonuses the employee had the right to receive.

Besides, once the payment of the redundancy compensation has been made, the company can apply for the reimbursement of 40% of the compensation from the Spanish Social Security administration.

4. Unlawful dismissal

The company can choose to dismiss the employee for no legal reason and without any kind of notice.

The redundancy compensation will be in such cases:

  • 45 days of salary per worked year for the period before the 12th of February 2012
  • 33 days of salary per worked year for the period after the 12th of February 2012

There will be also compensation for the holiday time that the employee could not have or bonuses the employee had the right to receive.

Mind that any contract can be terminated without the payment of any kind of compensation during the trial period.

5. Termination of contract

In case of a temporary contract, when it finishes there will be a compensation to be paid to the employee in the following basis:

  • 9 days of salary per year worked in temporary contracts signed from the 1st of January 2012 onwards
  • 10 days of salary per year worked in temporary contracts signed from the 1st of January 2013 onwards
  • 11 days of salary per year worked in temporary contracts signed from the 1st of January 2014 onwards
  • 12 days of salary per year worked in temporary contracts signed from the 1st of January 2015 onwards

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