Pérez-Llorca’s Employment, Compensation and Benefits practice area held a new ‘Pérez-Llorca Labour Law Update’ session in Barcelona, with the participation of Manel Hernàndez and Iván Gayarre, partners of this practice, and Jesús Gómez, judge of Labour Court No. 10 of Barcelona on secondment to the Labour Chamber of the High Court of Catalonia.
Manel Hernàndez began the seminar by presenting the latest and most significant rulings. These include the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union dated 22 February 2024, which states that the consultation period in a collective procedure must begin when the established thresholds are expected to be exceeded, and the Judgment of the Supreme Court dated 29 January 2024, which concludes that an individual communication of the beginning of the consultation period of a collective dismissal is not required, in the absence of an ad hoc negotiating committee or legal or trade union representation from the workers.
Iván Gayarre then presented the new developments in relation to Royal Decree-law 6/2023 and the General State Administration’s Annual Regulatory Plan for 2024 to improve the efficiency of judicial processes. Gayarre highlighted two reforms with a distinctly digital character that will now play a crucial role: firstly, the amendment to articles 28, 29 and 34 of the Law Regulating Labour Courts on the joinder of actions and proceedings and secondly, the amendment to the rule contained in article 86 bis of the aforementioned law regarding the witness procedure.
In terms of legislative trends, Gayarre commented on the most significant points of the General State Administration’s Annual Regulatory Plan, including the Proposal for a Regulation developing Law 4/2023 for the real and effective equality of trans people and guaranteeing the rights of LGTBI people. “In the absence of workers’ representatives or trade union sections, the same technique from the Equality Plan is applied, involving the most representative trade unions,” stressed Gayarre.
Then, following the usual ‘Pérez-Llorca Labour Law Update’ session format, Hernández presented the top three most significant judgments from recent months. First place went to the Judgment of the Court of Justice of 28 February 2024, which ruled that franchisor and franchisee do not constitute a group of companies for labour purposes. Several franchisee companies, owned by the franchisor, carried out a number of individual terminations. This was challenged as a collective action and the Spanish High Court upheld the claim, but the Spanish Supreme Court overturned the ruling. “The inherent characteristics of the franchise contract, such as exclusivity, management and control of the franchisor or running the commercial activity under its supervision did not imply the existence of a group of companies for employment purposes,” Gayarre explained.
To conclude the session, Jesús Gómez analysed the Law regulating the protection of persons who report regulatory infringements and the fight against corruption (Law 2/2023), of 20 February, and the roles or legal status of the person managing the internal information system and the compliance officer. The judge went on to say that the regulation pursues a dual purpose: the adequate material and personal protection of whistleblowers against possible reprisals and the promotion of a culture of information at a general level, both in the public and private spheres. On this point, the judge also referred to the legal status of their position. “The person responsible for the internal information system must retain independence and autonomy with respect to the rest of the entity’s bodies, having the status of a ‘manager’. In other words, due to the nature and size of the specific organisation, there is a possibility that the person responsible for the system may carry out their duties together with others related to the ‘ordinary performance of the duties of the post or position’,” concluded Gómez.