5

UNIT 2: LABOUR AGREEMENT

L 201
FO

SUMMARY

1. – Employment contract
1.1 Definition
1.2 Worker’s capacity
1.3 Form of the contract
1.4 Trial Period

2. – Types of labour agreements:

1.1 Permanent contracts
1.2 Temporary contracts
1.3 Formational contracts

3. – Exercises

1
 5
UNIT 2: LABOUR AGREEMENT
L 201
FO

1. - EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT (or labour agreement)

1.1. – LABOUR CONTRACT: DEFINITION:

This is an agreement between an employer and a worker. The worker must provide a
service for the employer. The employer must pay the worker a salary or a wage.

1.2.-WORKER´S CAPACITY

The workers have the capacity to sign a contract by themselves when they are 18 years old.
If they are aged between 16 and 18, they need their parents consent to sign the contract, or
a judge to declare them emancipated minor.
In Spain you are not able to work if you are under 16 years old. If a teenager is under 16
years old he/she can´t work, unless an exemption: for public entertainment, having requested
the labour authority approval.

1.3. - THE FORM OF THE CONTRACT

A working contract can be both verbal or written. Most of the contracts are written. However,
if the contract is permanent, or the worker is going to work for four weeks or less it is not
necessary to have a written agreement.

Anyway, at any moment, the worker with an oral agreement can ask to have a written
agreement

These are the contracts that the law says that must be written:

 contracts for work practice and for training

 part-time contracts
 fixed but discontinuous work (seasonal work)
 temporary contracts
 permanent contract to support entrepreneurs

1.4. - TRIAL PERIODS/ PROBATION TIME

“A trial period is the time during which your character and abilities are tested to see whether
you are suitable for work or for membership”. The law says that if you are working with a
trial period it must be clearly written in the contract. During this time the employer may
check if the employee meets the professional profile that he was looking for. At the same
time, the worker may test, as well, the job to see if it was what he/she expected.

When nothing is said on the contract, or the bargain agreement, duration of the trial period is
as follows:

- 6 months for specialized workers,

- or 2 months for the rest of workers (3 months if the company has less than 25
workers).

2
 5
UNIT 2: LABOUR AGREEMENT
L 201
FO
During the trial period, the workers have the same rights and benefits as any other
regular worker of the company. That means the employer must pay the salary, the Social
Security and the bonuses.

During the trial period the employer and the employee can end the relationship at any time,
and no compensation is due.

Now with the new permanent contract to support entrepreneurs the companies with less than
50 workers can offer a trial period of one year

If a worker is dismissed during that probation time, he will have no compensation at all.
(when a worker is dismissed, that is when the boss asks you to leave the company, to go
away forever).

Which information should be included in the contract?

1. The name of the worker and the employer.

2. The starting date of the working relationship.

3. The address of the main office of the company.

4. The professional classification of the task done by the worker, or a summary of the
same, explained so that the specified details of the work are obvious.
5. The salary and any extra wages, as well as the times of payment.

6. The working time.

7. The numbers of day of vacation time and when it can be scheduled or taken.
8. The Collective Agreement that must be applies to the working relationship.

2. – TYPES OF LABOUR CONTRACTS

We are going to look at a few of the most important labour contracts:

2.1. – PERMANENT CONTRACT

No specific features are required to sign this type of contract. It is a contract wich is intented
to last in time. There are some permanent contracts with incentives, such as those signed
with disabled workers, or the permanent contract to support entrepreneurs. Look up for the
contract with at www.sepe.es

3
 5
UNIT 2: LABOUR AGREEMENT
L 201
FO
2.2.- FORMATIONAL CONTRACTS

 TRAINING CONTRACT

- Who is allowed to sign this contract? Young people between 16 and 25

years. Until the unemployment rate in Spain is less than 15%, people
between 25 and 30 years will be allowed to sign this type of contract. If the
worker is disabled there is no age limit.

- Which is the duration of the contract? Between one and three years.

- How is the working day? The worker may sign a part- time job or a full time
job. Part of the working time has to be in a training course (minimum 25% on
the first year, and 15% on the following years), meaning that the worker has a
time for training and time to work.

- If you agree with the employer to be in a trial period, it must not exceed two
months.

- The employee will receive a salary for the time actually worked and can
never be less than the National Minimum Wage in proportion to the time
actually worked.

- At the end of the contract, the employee is not entitled to any kind of
compensation.

 INTERNSHIP CONTRACTS

- Who can sign this kind of contract? Young adults who have a degree
(University, vocational/technical school degrees) can sign them.

- The worker can put into practice his/her studies within five years since
he/she finished his/her studies. If the person is disabled, the limit increases
to a maximum of 7 years after the date in which the studies were completed.

- A worker can sign this contract between 6 months and 2 years. The work
week may be full time or part time.

- In this kind of contract the trial period is different from the general rule. That
is, if the worker is a specialized one the trial period won´t be longer than 2
months. In the rest of the cases the trial period will only be a month.

- Interns will be paid depending on the established collective agreement, but

under no circumstances can the salary be below the minimum wage. The
salary hast to be the first year at least 60% of the salary agreed on the
bargain contract for a worker doing the same kind of work, and 75% the
second year

4
 5
UNIT 2: LABOUR AGREEMENT
L 201
FO

2.3 TEMPORARY CONTRACT

The worker can sign a contract with a determined period of time, for example, a six month
contract.

A temporary contract must be written (general rule, there is an exemption). These are the
possible situations allowed by law to sign a temporary contract:

- When the company needs to replace a worker on leave (illness, injury, or other legal
reasons) or during a selection process. The replacement worker can do the job until the
worker on leave returns. At the end of the contract the replacement worker will not have a
right to any type of compensation.
- When a company has an accumulation of work for any reason. The worker will not work
more than a total of 6 months in a 12 month period. At the end of the contract the worker
has the right to receive compensation of 12 days salary per year. If the duration of the
contract is less than 4 weeks, it does not need to be written (supposing it is a full time
agreement)
- When a company needs a specific service or skill. In this case the duration of the
contract will be determined for the time needed to complete the job or service. At the end
of the contract the worker has the right to receive compensation of 12 days salary per
year

EXERCISES

1. Look up in the web of SEPE for the official models of each of the contracts we have
studied in this unit.

2. A company wants to hire a kid aged 6 to star a commercial. Would this be possible?

3. Can a worker with a part time contract do extra hours?

4. You have an oral labour agreement with your company. Which kind of contract does it
have to be?

5. Yolanda is going to work as assistant during summer with a temporary contract. The
duration of the contract will be of 3 weeks, and it will be a part-time job. His boss says
the form of the contract should be oral. Is this correct?

6. After you have finished your studies here, you get hired with an internship contract.
The contract says there is a trial period of 8 months. Is this correct?

7. You have been working with a temporary contract (service or skills) for 3 months this
year. Do you have the right to any kind of compensation at the end of the contract? If
your monthly wage is 1000 euro, how much would it be?

5
 5
UNIT 2: LABOUR AGREEMENT
L 201
FO

8. From a legal point of view, write true or false next to the sentences:

1- I can sign my own contract because I am 17 years old and I´m an adult.
2- I am 18 years old, but I live with my parents so I need their authorization to enter
into a contract.
3- I have signed a contract without a trial period. During the first month, I have been
sacked/fired because I didn’t fit the profile that the employer was looking for. The
employer says that this is legal.
4- I have been working for six months and I have just received my severance pay. In
this document, my boss says that my fifteen- day trial period does not count. (As if
I had been working five months and fifteen days).

9. A young person is going to sign a contract with a restaurant in the Costa del Sol for six
months. He wants to know the following:
- Is it necessary to have a written contract?
- Should the time period that he will work be mentioned? Should the
contract also include a work schedule?