As of 12 May 2019 all companies must ensure that they keep a record of working hours in Spain – a daily record of hours worked by their employees. This record must include the exact start and end times of the working day.
It must be considered that current legislation protects pregnant workers from redundancy, and the employer must prove that the redundancy is not due to any reason related to the pregnancy, since if they cannot prove it, the redundancy would be considered null and void, and when the worker claims that she has been discriminated against because of her situation, the burden of proof will be reversed and the employer must prove that there are other reasons unrelated to her pregnancy.
In Spanish companies, workers may sometimes be given sick leave due to illness or an accident (sick leave in Spain). Temporary Incapacity (known by the initials IT in Spanish) is the name given to a situation that prevents a person from working for a certain period of time.
Important events have arisen during 2018 regarding maternity and paternity leave in Spain.
For many companies in Spain, it is important to ensure that the budget is able to accommodate the cost of the new employee upon his/her recruitment into the workforce. This means that the recruitment of the new employee, fundamental though it may be for the company, is often delayed. On this basis, whenever a new employee is recruited into the workforce, it is important to bear in mind the many hiring incentives in Spain that currently exist as they may enable the company to make significant savings.
Employees often enquire about whether they are entitled to leave from work for one reason or another and one may be unsure if they are entitled to the leave on the requested grounds. Legislation provides that all employees in Spain are entitled to leave from their place of work on justified grounds and for a fixed period of time, with a right to pay (paid leave in Spain).