There are different types of dismissal in Spain:
Disciplinary dismissal : occurs when the worker has committed a serious breach usa number list of his or her obligations.
Objective dismissal : the termination of the employee's contract occurs due to technical, organizational, production or economic reasons.
Collective dismissal : affects a certain number of workers.
In these three types of dismissal, the worker will be entitled to unemployment benefits . However, only in the case of objective dismissal and collective dismissal will the employee be entitled to compensation for termination of the contract of 20 days' salary per year worked.
It is very important not to confuse the types of dismissal with the qualification of the dismissal, which can be: fair , unfair or null . The qualification of the dismissal is given when the dismissal is claimed and the Judge gives a legal assessment of how the dismissal has been processed and decides on it. That is why it is very important that a company, if it wants to terminate a contract, does so correctly and in compliance with the formal requirements demanded by the Workers' Statute; since it may run the risk of having its dismissal qualified as unfair and that means a higher compensation to be paid to the worker.
Article 49 of the Workers' Statute regulates the causes of termination of the employment contract, including dismissal . In addition, Articles 51 to 55 of the Workers' Statute regulate the different types of dismissal that we have named in the previous paragraphs and indicate what requirements must be met for the employer to be able to terminate the employee's contract.
We must bear in mind that dismissal can occur in both temporary and permanent contracts ; both in full-time and part-time contracts. Dismissal consists of the termination of the employment contract unilaterally by the company.
Furthermore, the company does not have a deadline to dismiss an employee, but can always do so if there is a reason for them. It does not even matter if the employee has a reduced working day, is pregnant, on sick leave, etc. as long as there is a reason for it , the employment relationship can be terminated. However, a company cannot dismiss an employee for being pregnant or for being on sick leave, the reason for dismissal cannot be that since we would be facing a violation of rights and therefore, the dismissal would be null .
The steps to dismiss an employee would be the following:
Obligation to notify the employee in writing by means of a dismissal letter , which must clearly indicate the reasons for the dismissal and the effective date of the dismissal. If there is no dismissal letter or it is poorly drafted, the dismissal is unfair or void.
The company must make the severance pay available to the employee and pay it as soon as possible. That is, it must pay the days worked up to the date of dismissal, pending vacations and extra payments if they were not prorated. If it is an objective dismissal and the company cannot pay the severance pay due to the company's financial situation, it must indicate this in the letter.
In cases of dismissal for objective reasons, the employee must be given 15 days' notice .
In the case of disciplinary dismissal, it is necessary to argue very well the reasons for the breach committed by the worker. If the worker is a union representative, it is mandatory to open a contradictory file . In the event that the worker was affiliated to a union and the employer is aware of this, he must give a prior hearing to the union representatives. If these requirements are not met, the employer may carry out a new dismissal in which the requirements omitted in the previous one are met. This new dismissal, which will only take effect from its date, can only be carried out within the period of twenty days , counting from the day following the first dismissal.