Category: Dismissals
Spain: The “necessary” hearing of the employee prior to his/ her disciplinary dismissal
Recently, several court rulings have been handed down on the alleged obligation to comply with the prior hearing of the worker in cases of disciplinary dismissal. These rulings may change the procedure to be followed in future dismissals. In Spain, Article 55 of the Workers’ Statute (onwards WS) provides that, if the case appears that […]
Spain: In the event of dismissals for objective reasons, at what point the worker’s legal representatives must be provided with a copy of the letter?
The Supreme Court has ruled, in a judgment of 5 July 2023 (rec. 105/2022) , the discussion as to whether the delivery of the notice to the workers’ representatives in objective dismissals must be prior to or simultaneous with the notification to the dismissed employee or whether, on the contrary, it can be made subsequently. […]
Is dismissal by email a possibility in Spain?
‘You have a new email. Subject: you have been dismissed.’ Emails of this type may be valid if it can be evidenced that the employee has received it and that this is the usual channel for communication between the parties. The Canary Island High Court has accepted that a termination of contract notified by email […]
Additional severance to the statutory amount for unjustified dismissal: exception or general rule?
A recent judgment has opened the debate on the possibility of increasing severance compensation above the statutory amount in certain cases. For the time being, the courts require that very specific requirements be met, although we will have to wait and see how the situation evolves. According to Supreme Court doctrine -among others, the judgment […]
Notification to indefinite-term seasonal workers by ‘WhatsApp’: is it possible?
The use of communication systems such as ‘WhatsApp’ could be, from an organizational perspective, ideal for notifying indefinite-term workers with seasonal contracts, as opposed to other more formal or traditional communications such as by letter or bureaufax, or too informal means such as a simple phone call, but are calls via ‘WhatsApp’ legally viable? The […]
Can artificial intelligence, under human supervision, dismiss me?
The proposal for a European Directive on improving working conditions in platform work requires that, in intensely digitalized environments, there is always human control. This means that the decision regarding a job cannot be left exclusively in the hands of artificial intelligence. Elon Musk, together with other collaborators, created in 2015 a language model called […]