The Labor Code mandates that all workers are entitled to a minimum of 40 hours of continuous training per year, with employers required to provide this training regardless of company size.
For fixed-term contracts lasting three months or more, the training hours are proportional to the contract’s duration.
In a draft submitted on Thursday to social partners, the government is proposing to reduce this requirement for micro-enterprises to 20 hours annually. Micro-enterprises are defined as businesses employing fewer than 10 people and having an annual turnover or total balance not exceeding two million euros.
“Each year, the number of training hours to which a worker is entitled is 20 hours for micro-enterprises, 40 hours for others, or proportional to the contract duration for fixed-term contracts lasting three months or more,” the document states.
Among the changes in this draft, which will still be negotiated with social partners, is a modification to Article 89-A, concerning employment contracts with students during school holidays or breaks.
The objective of this change is to allow the contract to be terminated with a 15-day notice, as the current law does not specify any required notice period.
“Employment contracts with students, limited to school holidays or breaks, do not require a written form and can be terminated by either party at any time with 15 days’ notice,” the draft indicates.
“The terms of fixed-term employment contracts and temporary contracts with students during holidays or breaks, established under point 1, do not apply to sections related to fixed-term or temporary employment contracts,” the government adds as part of this article’s amendment.
Additionally, regarding the labor market, the government is preparing to revoke the requirement that the use of remote surveillance means in the workplace be subject to the authorization of the National Data Protection Commission.
“The use of remote surveillance means must be preceded by the workers’ committee’s opinion, which is considered favorable 10 days after the request is received,” the government draft specifies.
On Thursday, the government approved in a Council of Ministers a draft of “profound reform” of labor legislation that will be negotiated with social partners, aiming to revise “more than a hundred articles of the Labor Code.”
The reform, named “Labor XXI,” intends to make labor regimes more flexible, aiming to increase the “competitiveness of the economy and promote the productivity of companies,” as stated by the Minister of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security in a press conference following the Council of Ministers.
