The labor reform strengthens the temporary agency agreement to promote the fixed-discontinuous

The Government delegates to the temporary work companies themselves the regulation of the criteria that should govern the “appeal” permanent-discontinuous people who join the workforce of this type of company, giving greater flexibility to the management of their workers.

This is one of the most pressing aspects demanded by the temporary agency sector to promote the use of this contractual modality as the Government seeks to convert the maximum number of temporary workers into permanent ones, even if it is through the fixed-term model. discontinuous.

Currently, this type of contract hardly represents the 4% of the total number of people employed through temporary agencies, mostly through temporary modalities.

This was one of the few things that remained to be known about the labor reform agreed by the social agents and the Government in the absence of read the fine print of the Royal Decree-Law denominated of urgent measures for the labor reform, the guarantee of the stabilization in the employment and the transformation of the labor market that the Official State Gazette (BOE) published yesterday.

To this end, the first final provision of the RD-Law modifies article 10.3 of Law 14/1994 on temporary employment agencies, delegating the agreements of the temporary agency sector and that of the temporary agency themselves, if they had one. certain parts of the regulation of permanent-discontinuous workers.

The new wording of article 10.3 maintains the possibility, currently already in force, that temporary employment agencies can enter into permanent-discontinuous contracts to make workers available to cover functions “linked to the needs of user companies”.

Although they must comply with the criteria of temporality (causality and a maximum of three months for foreseeable activities and six months with the possibility of extending it to twelve for unforeseeable activities) of article 15.2 of the Workers’ Statute (ET).

Next, 10.3 clarifies that the ETT agreement will prevail over other agreements (mainly sectoral) in those references to collective bargaining that are included in article 16 of the ET that regulates the fixed-discontinuous contractual modality.

Objectives and formal

It refers to point 3 of said article, dedicated to the “objective and formal” criteria by which the appeal of permanent-discontinuous persons must be governed. However, despite the fact that it gives great autonomy to the sector and to the temporary employment agencies themselves, it requires that the appeal be made in such a way that there is evidence of “due notification” with precise indications of the conditions of its incorporation and with adequate advance notice.

Article 16 has been modified with the labor reform to allow both subcontractors and temporary work companies (the latter already had this power) to carry out the permanent-discontinuous contract. This modality is the great bet of the Government to channel a great majority of the activities that are currently carried out through temporary workers.

Wages and hours, no

However, in terms of salary, workers hired by temporary temporary employment agencies must comply with the requirement established in the temporary agency law that they receive the same salary as a similar worker from the user company where they provide the service. A rule that the reform also extends to subcontractors, since the workers they hire will be subject to the sectoral agreement of the activity carried out in the client company. And if you have a company agreement, in terms of salary, what is regulated in the sectoral agreement will prevail.

In the case of workers recruited by subcontractors through a fixed-discontinuous contract (“if justified,” says the law), the periods of inactivity will be due exclusively to awaiting relocation and will be determined in the sectoral agreements.

New Year’s Eve reform

This labor reform may well be known as the reform of the Innocent saints, as it was approved on December 28. In fact, that day it passed through the Council of Minister and on that date the Royal Decree-Law 32/2021 was signed by King Felipe VI. But nevertheless, its entry into force has been requested.

The Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, ?? the main architect of the negotiations with the unions and employers, although in the last phase the Ministries of Economy were added (with the First Vice President, Nadia Calviño in the shadow) and the one of Immigration and Social Security ?? he made a bit of a mess that same Tuesday at the press conference to present the approval of the labor reform.

He even hinted that it would come into force that same Tuesday, but from his Ministry they clarified that this would occur on the day when the Official State Gazette was published. Therefore, it was hoped that the legal changes in the Labor Market would begin to count from December 29. Nor, since that day it did not appear in the Official State Gazette.

In Work they calmed the waters assuring that the next day, for yesterday, Thursday, December 30, the labor reform would be published in the BOE and, therefore, would come into force. New surprise: The seventh final provision of Royal Decree Law 32/2021, of December 28, on urgent measures for labor reform, the guarantee of job stability and the transformation of the labor market (as it is called), announced that it would enter into force the day after its publication; that is, this Friday, December 31st.

Therefore, the second vice president will have to conform with having narrowly fulfilled his commitment, before Brussels, before the Spaniards and before the rest of his colleagues in the Government, to approve the reform before the end of the year.

Also delayed to March 31 the entry into force of some aspects of training contracts, and what refers to temporary contracts, including work and service. Although its duration will be six months, maximum.