A metamorfose dos mecanismo de suspensión do contrato e redución temporal de xornada na reforma laboral de 2021

Abstract

Maintaining employment in unfavorable times is one of the great challenges of the Spanish labor market. Traditionally, successive crises have generated massive job losses and have led huge cohorts of working people to unemployment. The experience of the pandemic produced by COVID-19 has sent a message of hope, since it has been possible to contain employment through better organized systems of contract suspension and reduction of working hours. With this experience, the 2021 reform has modified the regulation of said measures adopted for economic, technical, organizational and production reasons or force majeure through more ambitious rules and surrounded by tools designed to protect the people and companies affected. In addition, it has introduced a novel mechanism, called the "NET Mechanism", in which a major role is given to the government authority and the labor administration so that companies affected by cyclical economic crises or by challenges of sectoral transformations can take advantage of such measures. This article critically assesses the new regulations, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.