Thematic feature - individual labour/employment disputes and the courts
Published: 7 July 2004
This article examines how individual labour/employment disputes are handled through the courts in Spain, as at March 2004.
Download article in original language : ES0403112TES.DOC
This article examines how individual labour/employment disputes are handled through the courts in Spain, as at March 2004.
In March 2004, the EIRO national centres in 24 European countries were asked, in response to a questionnaire, to give a brief overview of their country's system for dealing with individual labour/employment disputes through the courts, along with data on: the volume of cases; the costs; the timeframe; alternatives to going to court; and any current debate on these issues. The Spanish responses are set out below (along with the questions asked).
System
Please give a brief description of how disputes concerning individual employees' employment and labour rights are handled in your country by courts, tribunals or other official judicial bodies.
According to the 1995 Labour Procedure Law (Ley de Procedimiento Laboral), the special system of labour courts is authorised to deal with any individual or collective claims concerning labour and social security law arising between employers and workers as a consequence of the employment contract. The labour courts are: the social courts (Juzgados de lo Social); the social chambers (Salas de lo Social) of the Higher Courts of Justice (Tribunales Superiores de Justicia) in each region (or autonomous community); and the social chamber of the national Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo). These courts are staffed by professional judges and magistrates (who are civil servants).
All workers of all categories may bring cases in the labour courts. However, these courts are not authorised to deal with cases involving challenges to the general provisions and proceedings of public administrations that are subject to the administrative law relating to employment. Civil servants regulated by the Civil Service Statute (Estatuto de la Función Pública), and employees of the state, regional and local authorities are not considered to be covered by labour law in areas where their work is regulated by administrative law.
The organisation and functioning of the labour courts seek to provide procedural protection for workers, and efforts are therefore made to reduce the financial costs as far as possible - eg fees are low, the parties may represent themselves or be represented by any person with full civil rights, and the procedures seek to be rapid.
Trade unions may represent their members in legal proceedings in the labour courts if the employees so authorise them, in order to defend their individual rights. The members are responsible for the consequences of such action. Workers are assumed to have granted such authorisation to their union unless they expressly declare otherwise. If this authorisation is not given, the worker may hold the trade union responsible for any consequences of its involvement.
According to the case involved, the labour court may order the losing party to recognise rights, restore infringed rights and/or pay monetary compensation. In certain cases of dismissal, the court may decide that the worker must be reinstated in his or her job under the same employment conditions as those enjoyed previously.
According to the specific case, the rulings (and/or decisions and orders) of the labour courts can be challenged in various ways: by appeal for reversal; appeal against a refusal to grant leave to appeal; appeal to the Supreme Court; appeal to 'unify the doctrine'; and appeal for judicial review.
Number of cases/disputes and costs
How many cases have been dealt with in your legal system by each category of court? Where possible, please provide statistics on the number of disputes in your country each year from 1990 to 2003 (or the latest year for which data are available). Where possible, please provide statistics on costs.
The table below breaks down cases referred to the labour courts into those relating to collective and individual disputes. No further data are available on the issues covered by the individual cases. Individual disputes followed a downward trend from 1993 until 1999, but have increased quite sharply since then.
| Type of dispute | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
| Collective disputes | 1,228 | 1,134 | 1,180 | 1,306 | 1,294 | 1,306 | 1,165 | 1,293 | 1,287 | 1,587 |
| Individual disputes | 209,181 | 193,001 | 178,155 | 175,140 | 164,039 | 154,465 | 146,081 | 154,055 | 169,444 | 199,001 |
Source: Statistical Journal (Boletín Estadísticas) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
Litigation timeframe
Where possible, please provide statistics on the timeframe within which court cases over individual labour/employment disputes are settled.
No information is available on how quickly individual disputes are settled (though see below under 'Debate').
Other means of resolving individual disputes
Is there any kind of legal mechanism forcing or encouraging the two parties (management and employees) to resolve a dispute by prior negotiation? Where there is such a mediation process foreseen, please give details. Is there any evidence that mediation has had an effect on the volume of claims handled by courts? Are there any corporate policies built into the structure of organisations in your country specifically to deal with disputes? How are the employees’ representative bodies involved in the process?
As a general rule (though exceptions are made in some cases), prior to bringing legal proceedings in individual employment/labour dispute cases, it is obligatory to hold a 'preliminary conciliation ' (conciliación previa) between the parties, involving the relevant public service - the regional mediation and/or conciliation services of the autonomous communities or the State Labour Administration (Administración Laboral del Estado), as applicable (ES9705107F). The parties to the cases are obliged to attend the conciliation proceedings. Agreements reached in this preliminary conciliation process are binding on the parties without the need for ratification by a judge or court, though they may be challenged before a judge or in court.
A 'judicial conciliation' (conciliación judicial) by a judge or court may be applied for at any time during legal proceedings before a judgment is passed. If agreement is reached through such conciliation, the trial is not held.
Collective agreements and intersectoral agreements have established other extra-judicial mechanisms for arbitration, mediation and conciliation (ES0104238N), though these mechanisms are generally created to solve collective disputes. Trade unions and employers' organisations may participate in these mechanisms.
These various administrative, judicial and extra-judicial conciliation proceedings are used quite often in order to avoid court cases.
Debate
Please summarise any current debate on the issue of employment/labour disputes litigated by courts in your country.
A great number of individual employment/labour dispute cases are referred to the labour courts. This concerns both trade unions and employers' associations, if for different reasons, and in practice they are both in favour of resolving disputes out of court. The main concern that is currently expressed is that in certain cases labour court proceedings may be very slow, leading for example to an increase in the compensation to be paid by employers (eg in certain cases of dismissal). The relevant legislation has been modified in the past in an attempt to avoid these negative effects.
In recent years there has been no significant modification of the law on resolving individual labour disputes out of court, and no amendments are planned for the near future other than to further promote this form of dispute resolution. (Francesc Pérez Amorós, CIREM Foundation)
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2004), Thematic feature - individual labour/employment disputes and the courts, article.
