SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: José Antonio Segovia, A&O Shearman
• Announcement – the employer must serve notice on the employees’ representatives or, in their absence, the employees, stating an intention to ini - tiate a negotiation period to implement a collective dismissal in order for them to appoint a negotiation body. The maximum period for the constitution of the representative committee will be seven days where employees’ representatives are appointed or 15 days where no employees’ representatives have been appointed. • Starting the negotiation period – the employer must deliver a written notice to the representative com - mittee to open the negotiating process; a copy of this written notice must also be sent to the appro - priate labour authority. Notice The written notice must include a report on the grounds for collective dismissal, which must enclose the necessary supporting technical documents as well as a technical report. If the collective dismissal is based on economic grounds, the documents must evidence economic and financial changes in the company during the last two years and must be duly audited. Whenever the grounds are based on foreseeable losses, the infor - mation provided shall include the criteria used for such forecasts. Also, a technical report on the forecast of losses must be provided, based on data extracted from the annual accounts, the sector in which the company operates and the evolution of the market and the position of the company in the same. Special requirements and documentation need to be included if the company forms part of a group of companies. If the collective dismissal is based on technical, organisational or production grounds, the report must enclose technical reports justifying the dismissal, the measures to be adopted and their impact on the via - bility of the company. The written notice must also include: • the number and professional classification of employees affected; • the number and professional classification of the employees rendering services during the last year;
• the term envisaged for the implementation of the dismissals; • the criteria used to designate the affected employ - ees, which must be objective and non-discrimina - tory; • a copy of the written notification of the company’s intention to start a consultation period to imple - ment a collective dismissal; • information about the employees who form part of the representative committee; and • a request from the representative committee of a report on the collective dismissal. Once the labour authority has received this notice, it will inform the public entity managing unemploy - ment benefits and apply for a compulsory report to be issued by the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate on the content of: • the communication and the development of the negotiation process; and • the existence of the specific grounds used by the company to justify the dismissal. Negotiations The employer must hold negotiations with the repre - sentative committee within a maximum of 30 days, or 15 days in case of companies with fewer than 50 employees. The negotiations must include possible options to avoid the collective dismissal, reduce the number of employees affected or ameliorate its con - sequences, as well as on the severance packages to be paid. A minimum number of mandatory meetings must be held, and a calendar followed unless other - wise agreed. The parties must negotiate in good faith. The labour authority will safeguard the effectiveness of the nego - tiation period and is entitled, if appropriate, to send recommendations and warnings, but these will not stop or suspend the procedure. The negotiation period will be concluded whether or not an agreement between the parties is reached. If sufficient grounds exist, the employer can unilaterally execute the terminations.
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