Key Protections and Rights for Employee Representatives in Spain

Employee Representative Rights and Protections

Functional Mobility of Representatives

The employer can instruct the employee representative to perform new functions (functional mobility) if there are objective reasons for this decision.

If discrimination is established due to the representative status, the decision of functional mobility can be annulled.

Priority of Stay and Protection Against Termination

C) Priority of Stay in the Company in Case of Termination or Suspension for Certain Causes, and in the Case of Geographical Mobility.

Protection During Redundancies and Contract Suspension

This priority applies in cases of:

• Redundancies: Collective (Art. 51.7 ET) or objective (Art. 52.c) ET) for technical, economic, organizational, productive reasons, or by force majeure.
• Suspension of the contract for such causes.

Purpose: To ensure the continuity of the representative mandate and avoid measures aimed at harming the business representative.

Scope: The priority of continuation of employment refers only to those employees belonging to the representative group, not all employees of the company.

Requirement: The representative status must be held at the time of applying for employment authorization to the Authority to terminate or suspend the contracts, even if the status was not possessed when the permit was issued. This is an inalienable right.

Priority in Cases of Geographical Mobility

In case of geographical mobility, whether it is a transfer (more than 12 months to three years) or a displacement (less than that period of time), unit representatives have priority to remain in the company.

Meaning: This is the right not to be chosen before other eligible workers to fill the job in the new destination.

Exception: This priority does not apply where a change of workplace does not require a change of residence.

Facilities for Employee Representatives

6.2. Facilities

a) Freedom of Expression.

Scope of Freedom of Expression

The legal basis and scope of this freedom are defined as follows:

• Subjective Scope: The right to express opinions collectively (as a committee) as well as individually (in a positive or divergent manner).
• Material Scope: Freedom of expression concerning matters relating to the field of representation, specifically, to defend the interests of workers.
• Target: Freedom of expression refers to views whose recipient is both outside the company (clients, public, etc.) and inside the company (employers or workers at a general assembly (Art. 77 ET) or specific groups in the premises of the company).

Limits to Freedom of Expression

Freedom of expression is subject to certain limits:

• Duty of professional secrecy (Article 65.2 ET), which depends on the general interest in understanding the information issued in each case.
• Rights to privacy and dignity of individuals and the business.
• Duty of good faith in the exercise of rights (Art. 7 CC). However, the existence of an all-encompassing duty of loyalty cannot be claimed.

The employee representatives (RRTT) are not required to convey views or engage in certain activities contrary to the employer or the union representative.