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Following several months of back-and-forth debate, the Spanish government has finally reached an agreement and confirmed that the legislation to reduce the working week from the current 40 hours to 37.5 will be officially approved this week.

 

Minister of Labour Yolanda Díaz has been the main driving force behind the reform, which will see the average work day drop to just 7.5 hours. The law will be approved by the Council of Ministers as a matter of urgency at some stage over the next few days.

 

Crucially, the legislation stipulates that workers’ rights must be absolutely protected so that salaries will remain the same, despite the shorter working week.

 

The Labour party estimates that this measure will benefit around 12 million workers.

 

Once approved by the Government, the text will return to the Council of Ministers as a bill, which Labour estimates will happen at the end of February. Afterwards, it will enter Congress, where the parliamentary groups will be able to introduce amendments before its final approval.

 

The aim of Ms Díaz is to have the regulation published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) before the summer so that companies can have a few months to adapt. Essentially, companies whose staff currently work more than 37.5 hours will have until December 31 this year to make the necessary changes.

 

According to the draft text, part-time contracts lasting an average of 37.5 hours a week or more "will automatically become full-time contracts" upon application of the new legal working day.

 

In the case of contracts with fewer than 37.5 hours of work, part-time workers will have the right to continue working the same number of hours that they were working before the law came into force. They will also have the right to a proportional increase in their salary from the application of the ordinary maximum work week of 37.5 hours.

 

The Government will fine companies that fail to comply with the reduction of the maximum weekly hours with sanctions of up to 10,000 euros per employee.

 

The law also reinforces the right of employees to ‘digital disconnection’ outside of their working hours, establishing it as an "unwaivable" right of the employee, for which there can be no negative consequences or reprisals for not responding to company communications outside of their working hours.

 

 

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