Latest news with #Workers'Statute
Local Spain
18-06-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
How parents in Spain can demand to work 100% from home
Working a job and looking after children or caring for relatives at the same time can be a tricky balancing act that demands a lot of time and sacrifice on your part, yet this is the reality for millions. The good news is that in Spain, if you are employed and have children under 12 years old or care for disabled or elderly parents who are completely dependent on you, then by law, your company must allow you to work from home – and not just occasionally. You actually have the right to request to work exclusively from home. This is not just a rule that you can request and that your company decides whether to grant you or not - this is your right as an employee. Your company is at the very least obliged to negotiate with you and can only refuse if it has a justifiable objection. This basically means it may depend on the type of work you have. If you work in an office, this will be possible, but if you have a client facing role as a tour guide or you're a teacher for example, it might not be. Here's what the law actually says: Article 34.8 of the Workers' Statute allows any worker to request adjustments to their working hours to balance work and family life. This includes: Shift or schedule changes Modified working hours Remote work, even at 100 percent capacity This right applies to those responsible for: Children under 12 years of age Dependent family members What are the key requirements? Your work must be able to be done remotely with the same or very similar results. The request must be motivated by real and justified work-life balance needs. To refuse, the company must be able to demonstrate clearly that it would do damage to their business if you worked remotely or changed your schedule. Several court rulings have in fact ruled in favour of the employee when the company refused, however. One recent case involved a worker who successfully argued that because she had worked remotely during the pandemic and already worked from home two days per week, then she could work remotely all the time. She proved that her performance was the same when working from home and in the office. Another example was in January 2025, when the High Court of Justice in Madrid ruled in favour of a lawyer with a disabled daughter and ordered her company to allow her to work exclusively from home. She was also awarded €7,500 in compensation for discriminatory treatment. How do I request to work from home or a change in schedule? You must send your request in writing asking for schedule adjustments or the ability to work from home. You must include: Your family situation and cite Article 34.8 of the Workers' Statute. Attach supporting documentation such as birth certificates, disability certificate, family record book, etc. The company must respond within a maximum of 15 days. If they refuse, they must explain their reasons in writing. If there is no agreement, you can go to court. According to legal experts, the procedure is quick and is usually resolved within a few weeks. Many companies in Spain continue to act as if being able to work remotely is simply a favour to you, but it's actually written into the law. When there is a real need for work-life balance, such as caring for children dependents, the law protects your right to request a different way of working, as long as it is both possible and reasonable.
Local Spain
10-02-2025
- Politics
- Local Spain
EXPLAINED: Spain's clampdown on child YouTubers and parent influencers
In the current digital times we're living in, there are thousands of kids appearing in social media videos, either because their parents are influencers and like to document their lives online, or because the children themselves have social media accounts they post on. Studies show that in Spain there are children under 15 years old with more than nine million followers on their YouTube, TikTok or Instagram accounts and many of them started on social networks when they were just five years old. As the digital world grows it is becoming more and more difficult to regulate, but Spain's plan is to aim to introduce more restrictions to protect minors. In an interview with news site 20minutos, Minister of Youth and Children Sira Rego said: "There are many unprotected children, sometimes because families are not aware of the magnitude of the effect that uploading photos of our children to social networks has'. She also expressed her concern about the "monetisation of the image of childhood'. According to lawyer Ana Caballero, who specialises in technology and chaired a group of experts appointed by the government to help solve the situation, when a minor is used on a social media video, it gains 42 percent more likes than if there are only adults. This is attractive to influencer parents who want to show their children even more. But, according to the expert group, this can consequences for the child who at some point will be an adult and will have their entire life exposed on the internet without them being able to do anything about it. The Spanish government's aim is to put a stop to this so-called 'sharenting', when influencer parents put videos and images of their children online in order to gain money from them. While exact details of the draft haven't been released yet, Spain's Ministry of Labour is also planning a reform to regulate the professional work of minors in artistic activities, such as social media. It will mean that children will be employed and have "specific guarantees" in terms of protection. According to sources from the department led by Yolanda Díaz, the new regulations will be added the Workers' Statute and limit the schedule and times minors can 'work' on social media platforms. It will also "guarantee compatibility" with their social and educational life, meaning anyone under 16 years of age will only be able to 'work' when they do not have class, during vacation periods or on weekends. The objective is to prevent child exploitation in the digital environment by some families who end up receiving significant income from their posts. It also means that any money derived from videos of their children must be deposited into a financial institution, in charge of managing that money until the child reaches 18. According to a Harris Poll/LEGO survey, today more children want to be YouTubers than astronauts. Another investigation by the Reina Sofía Center on Adolescence and Youth of the FAD Foundation revealed that one in three young people between 15 and 29 years old would like to make a career online and one in ten is already trying to make it happen. Other countries have already tried to protect minors more online. Australia has introduced a world-first social media ban for under 16-year olds, while France, has a approved a law to protect child influencers and regulate the hours that those under 16 years of age work. Back in April 2024, Spain also introduced its first initiative to regulate the activity of influencers. It means that content creators with income of more than €300,000 per year must follow new restrictions long as they have more than one million followers on a single platform. Spain also has another law under way - the 'Protection of Minors Law', which must still be approved by Council of Ministers and the Congress of Deputies which includes measures such as virtual restraining orders, a reform of the Penal Code to punish deep fakes and grooming, and health tests to detect online addictions.
Local Spain
31-01-2025
- Business
- Local Spain
Why do workers in Spain get 14 pay cheques a year and who is entitled?
Millions of working Spaniards get an extra pay cheque (nómina in Spanish) in December and the summer every year. Note that this doesn't mean they're getting any extra money, rather two extra pay cheques. In other words, the annual salary is divided by 14 rather than 12. To some foreigners, this might seem odd. But where does this custom come from? As with many things in Spain, this practice has its origins in the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The 14-payment system first emerged in the mid-1940s in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. After the conflict, the Spanish economy was decimated and salaries plummeted, so in order to tackle the economic crisis, it was decided that for Christmas 1944 workers in unregulated industries would receive a bonus equivalent to one week's salary. The following year, the measure was introduced on a general basis, resulting in an annual salary divided into 13 monthly payments. The Official State Gazette of 9 December 1945 includes an order from the Ministry of Labour establishing 'a bonus equivalent to one week's pay for the Christmas holidays.' The extra summer payment arrived a few years later, in 1947, when the Franco regime added another payment to that which workers had been receiving at Christmas. When Spain transitioned to democracy, the 'bonus' payments were enshrined in law. Article 31 of the 1980 Workers' Statute states: 'The worker is entitled to two extra bonuses per year, one of them on the occasion of the Christmas holidays and the other in the month established by collective agreement or by agreement between the employer and the workers' legal representatives. The amount of these bonuses shall also be established by collective agreement. However, it may be agreed in a collective agreement that the extraordinary bonuses shall be prorated over the twelve monthly payments." Who is entitled to the extra payment? According to the USO union, 'The extra pay is an additional payment to the salary to which all employed workers are entitled.' So, this means that if you're employed in Spain by a Spanish company, you should be entitled to it. Be sure to check your employment contract or collective bargaining agreement. Of course, you don't have to. Many Spaniards themselves prefer and opt for 12 payments. How does it work? Generally speaking, you can arrange your extra payments in one of two ways: An accumulated bonus for the annual or six-month accrual period, spread over 14 payments. This is when each bonus is received in a single payment. That is, two single payments a year, in addition to the monthly salary and in an amount equivalent to the monthly salary. This is what is colloquially known as 'collecting the bonus' in Spain. Prorated extra pay, spread over 12 payments. This is when the extra payments included in the monthly payslips are received, over the course of 12 months. That is to say, the amount of the 2 extra payments is divided by 12 months and added to the amount of the monthly salary. As a result, you don't get the two additional extra payments in summer and at Christmas, because these are absorbed by the monthly salary and they are paid out little by little each month.
