SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: José Antonio Segovia, A&O Shearman
which should objectively and sufficiently demonstrate that the decision was not based on discriminatory grounds. If the court finds evidence of discrimination, the judgment may provide for compensation and nul - lify the company’s discriminatory action, order the immediate cessation of the discriminatory action and order the reinstatement of the employee under the same conditions that applied prior to the episode of discrimination. If an employee’s termination of employment is nullified, the employee will be reinstat - ed to their role and be paid the salary accrued – but not paid – from the termination date for the length of the judicial process. The prejudicial treatment of employees on the basis that they requested that their rights be upheld or have reported anomalies within the company is not permit - ted. Any sort of claim (which need not be a judicial claim) may be sufficient to argue the existence of retal - iation, even if done through an informal procedure. Dismissals and any other detrimental employment measures adopted on the basis of retaliation shall be null and void. The affected employee can also claim for damages. In cases of discrimination, the company may be sanc - tioned with: • a penalty of between EUR7,501 and EUR225,018; • the automatic loss (proportional to the number of employees affected) of subsidies, rebates or bonuses or any state benefit granted in the context of employment programmes; and • loss of access to the above-mentioned subsidies, rebates or benefits for a period of six months to two years. Legislation on Gender and Sexual Equality The Spanish government has approved two Royal Decrees related to equality between men and women in companies. • Royal Decree 901/2020, of 13 October 2020, which regulates equality plans and the obligation to register them. This Royal Decree entered into force on 14 January 2021, with the aim of promoting effective equality between men and women, elimi - nating any discrimination that may exist, through
the obligation to develop and apply an equality plan in those companies that employ more than 50 employees. The equality plan has to be negotiated with the workers’ representatives and will consist of three phases: (a) diagnosis of the company situation; (b) preparation of an equality plan; and (c) monitoring, evaluation and review of the equal - ity plan. • Royal Decree 902/2020, of 13 October 2020, on equal pay between women and men. This Royal Decree entered into force on 14 April 2021, with the aim that equal salaries will be paid for jobs of equal value, without any discrimination based on gender. By virtue of this Royal Decree, employ - ers must keep a record with the average values of salaries, salary supplements and extra-salary payments of their workforce, disaggregated by gender and distributed by professional groups, professional categories or jobs with equal value. Workers may access this registry through their legal representatives, or directly if they do not have legal representation. In addition to the above, the Spanish government has approved Law 4/2023, which implied the obligation of companies with more than 50 employees to imple - ment a protocol to act against any type of harassment or violence towards the LGBT+ community. The effec - tive date for the implementation of the LGBT+ plan was 2 March 2024, and the conditions must be negoti - ated with the legal representatives of the employees. 8.3 Digitalisation Article 230 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary had a general rule that courts and tribunals should use any available technology to do their work and exercise their functions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary to adopt more specific measures for this purpose. Law 3/2020 of 18 September 2020 established that, whenever possible, courts and tribunals should use electronic means to carry out trials, hearings, state - ments, and other procedural acts. However, this law applied only as long as there was a health crisis sce - nario in Spain, and it ceased to be in force on 4 July 2023 with the publication of Order SND/726/2023,
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