The Government rectifies and eliminates the priority of the ERTE over collective dismissals in companies

In the latest draft that the Labor technicians have put on the negotiating table, the preferential nature of this mechanism disappears.

The Government has rectified the pressure from the CEOE and Cepyme employers' associations and has restored the freedom of companies to present a collective dismissal - an employment regulation file (ERE) - for objective reasons, within current legislation, if they consider that It is the best solution to resolve your crisis. The objective causes are economic, technological, organizational and production.

«The Employment Sustainability Mechanism will be preferential over terminations due to economic, technical, organizational or production reasons, and the company must provide sufficient reasons in the case of termination due to these causes that the mechanism of this provision is not feasible to resolve in a manner proportionate and reasonable the situation in which the company finds itself. With this paragraph, in previous versions of the draft of the labor reform, the Ministry of Labor intended to protect the workforce in companies in crisis situations, making the option of reducing working hours preferential (through the new MSE that will complement ERTE in the legislative framework) versus dismissal. The approach has been eliminated in the Ministry's latest proposal.

In the latest draft that the Labor technicians have put on the negotiating table, the preferential nature of this mechanism disappears - which will allow companies to reduce workers' hours when, for unforeseeable reasons, beyond the control of the business, they are prevented or limited the normalized development of its activity - in the face of contract terminations for objective reasons (economic, technical, organizational or production).

Although the clause that will require companies that resort to this internal flexibility tool to make a commitment to maintain employment is maintained (similar to the one that operates in the current ERTE), with this change the Ministry eliminates rigidity from its proposal in order to bring closer positions with employers that have been reluctant to negotiate these and other approaches that, they consider, go against the adaptability that companies need in the current crisis situation.