Spain: short-time working mechanisms extended until 31 January 2021

The government is extending its extraordinary short-time working arrangements in order to deal with the constraints on businesses exposed to the second wave of the pandemic. The decree-law published in the Official Bulletin (BOE) on 30 September provides for a further extension until 31 January 2021 of the temporary employment regulation procedures (ERTE- Expediente de Regulación Temporal de Empleo) that were established by decree on 18 March 2020 and that were extended both on 11 May and 26 June. In addition, this ‘3rd social agreement defending employment’ provides for three types of measures to enable companies to adapt to their environment based on force majeure, on impediment to activity, and on limitation of activity. This extension is the result of an agreement between the Ministry of Labor, and the employers and trade union organizations that renews and adapts the extraordinary measures already taken since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.