Main legislative changes in the sphere of employment law in October

The amended texts of the Workers´ Statute, the General Social Security Act and the Basic Statute of Public Employees, the General State Budget Act 2016 and the Worker-Owned Companies Act, amongst others, have been published.

In October several important provisions within the sphere of employment law were published, including Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015 of 23 October, approving the amended text of the Workers´ Statute; Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015 of 30 October, approving the amended text of the General Social Security Act and finally Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015 of 30 October, by which the Basic Statute of Public Employees was approved. Their objective is to consolidate within a single text norms which up to now have been found in Acts pertaining to their respective individual fields.

Law 48/2015 of 29 October regarding the General State Budget for 2016 contains various employment law aspects. Aside from the developments which impact exclusively upon the public sector, we highlight below the most relevant aspects:

• The 1% increase in the maximum limit of the contribution base is fixed at 3,642€ monthly and the freezing of IPREM at 532.51€ monthly.
• The continuation of the 50% reduction in employer contributions of the ordinary quota in the event of a change of role during pregnancy or while breastfeeding due to associated risk, and in cases of occupational illness.
• The continuation of measures to support the extension of the period of activity of those employees on a permanent seasonal contract within tourism-related sectors.
• The postponement of the extension of paternity leave to four weeks for another year, and the entry into force of amendments to the Statute of Self-Employed Workers that will enable its performance on a part-time basis.

Finally, we highlight Law 44/2015 of 14 October, on the issue of worker-owned companies which repeals and replaces Law 4/1997. It encourages the involvement of workers, facilitating access to the position of partner and introducing measures to guarantee control of their company. Thus, it intends to increase the utility of this type of company and encourage their establishment. These companies are granted a period of two years in order to adapt their articles of association to fit with the new law.