IR Notes

On 4 April, the Spanish Parliament definitively adopted the measures approved by the government a few weeks ago, establishing parental leave and extending the obligation to put gender-equality plans in place in companies with 50 or more employees. 1/ Paid maternity/paternity leave is being replaced by a new individual entitlement to “paid leave for the birth of a baby”. There is equal leave for each parent (16 weeks) and it is not transferable from one parent to the other. During this leave, the parents will receive an allowance paid at a level similar to their current wage/salary (capped at 4,070.10 euros per month). The biological mother and the father (or the other parent) must take the six weeks immediately following the birth, as part of this leave. The aim is to achieve a more egalitarian division of parental responsibilities between men and women. The previous allowance of 5 weeks’ paternity leave was raised to 8 weeks on 1 April this year, and it is set to rise further, i.e. to 12 weeks on 1 January 2020 and subsequently to 16 weeks on 1 January 2021. 2/ Since 2007, companies with more than 250 employees have been bound by an obligation to negotiate and implement a “Plan for Equality”, which contains a number of measures to combat sex discrimination and to promote equality between men and women. The obligation is now being progressively extended to encompass companies with more than 50 employees. In one year’s time, the measure will apply to companies with between 250 and 150 employees, then in two years’ time to those with between 150 and 100 employees, and finally, in three years’ time, to companies with 50 to 100 employees. A new public register is being created, in which all gender-equality plans must be recorded. 3/ The new law contains several measures to combat the gender pay gap. For example, every company with 50 or more employees will have to perform a “pay audit” in which it will examine the earnings situation of its male and female employees, and the reasons for any gender pay gap. If the gap is greater than 25%, the company will have to justify the difference. In addition, all companies will have to keep a register of the wages and salaries it actually pays for the various categories of its employees and their jobs, and employee representatives will be entitled to have to access to this register. 4/ Lastly, a new right is being established, to request  flexible working arrangements, including teleworking. The employer will have to discuss the matter with an employee who submits such a request, and if applicable, will have to justify any decision to reject it.

Work-life balance : On 4 April, by a large majority (490 for, 82 against, 48 abstentions), Parliament definitively adopted the Directive on work-life balance for parents and carers and repealing Directive 2010/18/EU on parental leave. In particular, this directive provides for a minimum paternity leave of 10 working days, remunerated at the same level as sick pay; two months of non-transferable paid parental leave; five days of annual carer’s leave to provide personal care or support to a relative and the right to request flexible working arrangements (see IR Notes no. 112). Following publication in the OJEU, the directive will have to be transposed into domestic law within three years (see press release issued by Parliament).
> To find out more: a presentation by the European Parliamentary Research Service on the process of adopting the directive and on a survey relating to maternity and paternity leave in the EU.

Social legislation in the area of road transport : On 4 April, despite strong differences of opinion in this area, Parliament adopted three resolutions on working conditions in the road transport sector: 1/ on enforcement requirements and specific rules for posting drivers in the road transport sector. For example, MEPs want posting rules to apply to cabotage and to cross-border transport operations, excluding transit, bilateral operations and bilateral operations with an additional activity of loading and/or unloading in each direction (or none on the outward journey and two on the return journey). 2/ on minimum requirements relating to maximum daily and weekly driving times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest periods, and on geographical monitoring of vehicles using tachographs. One of these measures seeks to impose a requirement on employers to allow their drivers to take their break at home at least once every four weeks. 3/ on adapting to developments in the road transport sector, which stipulates in particular that in order to combat the use of so-called ‘letterbox companies’, road transport companies should have significant business activities in the State in which they are registered. These texts represent the negotiating position adopted by Parliament during the discussions with the Council (see press release issued by Parliament), which look set to be complicated, with a low likelihood of reaching agreement.

• Breakdown of working hours : pursuant to the recent opinion pronounced by the Attorney General (C-55/18), the law passed by Parliament on 4 April (see Lead story) stipulates that all companies will be required to keep a register of the hours actually worked by their employees.

Employees exposed to asbestos : On 5 April, the Court of Cassation, which is the country’s highest civil court, delivered a ruling overturning its previous case law and recognising the right of an employee who can demonstrate exposure to asbestos giving rise to a high risk of developing a serious pathology, to take action against their employer, seeking compensation for the prejudice they have suffered in terms of anxiety. This action is based on the employer’s obligation under ordinary law to provide a safe working environment. The court must establish the prejudice suffered by the employee personally, resulting from a high risk of developing a serious pathology. Prior to this decision, only employees who met certain specific criteria and/or worked for companies appearing on a list established by law, could hope to secure compensation (see explanatory note issued by the Court of Cassation).

Negotiations deadlocked : On 1 April, the special negotiating body set up nearly three years ago to negotiate a European Works Council agreement within the bottling company Coca-Cola European Partners (23,500 employees in 13 European Economic Area countries), adopted a statement denouncing the company’s management, which is offering an “agreement that is below the provisions of the applicable legal framework”. The negotiators believe that Coca-Cola is not “up to the image it wishes to give to all its consumers, employees and shareholders” (see EFFAT press release).

Irregularities with the functioning of the European Works Council : employee representatives of the Irish building materials group Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH) met on 26 and 27 March to discuss the state of social dialogue within the group at local and European level. The participants adopted a statement denouncing the irregularities apparent in the functioning of the European Works Council. In particular, they express doubts about the quality of the signatories of an amendment to the European Works Council agreement, stating that the text was signed without adequate consultations and without the approval of either the employee representatives on the European Works Council or the trade unions (see press release issued by the EFBWW and IndustriAll).

• Functioning of a SNB: the Italian producer of tissue paper Sofidel (6,116 employees in 13 countries) has refused to arrange a physical meeting for the members of a special negotiating body (SNB) set up at the trade unions’ request for the purpose of establishing a European Works Council. The Court of Appeal of Lucca, in Italy, found in favour of the employer, which planned to bring the negotiators together via a videoconference. The court ruled that there was nothing in the directive that excluded using this method.


• Brexit: At a meeting of the select committee of the Axa group’s European Works Council (GEWC) held on 13 March, the management of the insurance group Axa confirmed that the British delegation will continue as a GEWC member for the rest of the current term.

• Job vacancies and unemployment : Eurostat has published statistics on unemployment rates in February, as well as on trends in labour costs and job vacancy rates for the last quarter of 2018. Particularly worthy of note are the unemployment rate in the Czech Republic, which has fallen to below 2%, and significant rises in labour costs, amounting to more than 10% in some new Member States (Latvia, Lithuania, Romania) and Portugal.