Spain: commentary of the act implementing the labor market reform

in reason why, in 2006, a legal rule was introduced by which the employee who holds the same job for the same employer for 24 months during a period of 30 months on two or more fixed-term contracts becomes an employee with a permanent contract. Now the reform extends this more favorable rule to employees, the rule now imposes permanent status in spite of possible changes in job functions and also in spite of possible changes of employer in the same company group or because a transfer of undertaking.

The reform also makes fixed-term contracts less attractive by establishing a maximum duration for one of the most popular of these contracts: the contract for a definite task. As yet, this contract had no maximum duration. Now the law says that it has a maximum duration of three years, though it allows industry-wide collective agreements to establish an additional duration of twelve months for this kind of contract. The Parliament introduced a derogation for the construction industry that can escape from these limits with a collective agreement.

Regardless of the reason why the employee becomes permanent, the employer must provide them with written notice in the ten days following that in which the employee becomes permanent by operation of law.…