Spain: repeal of labor law article authorizing employment termination on grounds of repeated periods of sick leave

Spain’s government has repealed an article in the Labor Code that allows  for employment contract termination on the grounds of accumulated work time absences, even when the absences are justified. This is the government’s first labor law measure  since it announced it was raising the minimum salary on 01 January 2020.
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In January 2020, Spain’s Labor Minister, Yolanda Diaz, announced when she took office that deleting article 52.d of the Workers Statute would be one of the most pressing issues to address. And so it has come to pass. “This is a question of rectifying an anomaly and correcting an unusual rule that has no comparison within Europe. “So from today people can no longer be laid off because they took sick leave, decent work is an international obligation,” the Minister stated on 18 February at...

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