The probationary period for workers in Portugal is six months and in Spain it is only two months?
“I owe you that you are creating an obstacle that does not exist, because there are no issues that prevent any agreement between us. As for what you call the ‘Decent Work Agenda’, in fact, we have a huge difference. PS requires keep doubling the trial period. The worker is fired, without reason and without a cent,” he said. Catarina Martins, leader of Bloco de Esquerda, in the debate on Tuesday night, on RTP, against Antonio Costa, Prime Minister and PS leader.
During this period, Martins made a comparison with the neighboring country: “A period that is here [em Portugal] six months, when the equivalent in Spain it’s two months“,
Truth or falsehood?
We analyzed, first, the experimental period stipulated in Portugal. as it is determined no Labor Code, the trial period corresponds to the “initial time of execution of the employment contract, during which the parties appreciate the interest in its maintenance”.
No article 112 of the Labor Code is defined its duration. Thus, there is no work for an indefinite period, the trial period has a contract duration 90 days (three months) for most workers. However, this period becomes 180 days (six months) for the following categories of worker who:
– Existence of complex loads, a high degree of responsibility or technique that requires a special qualification;
– Perform functions of trust;
– Are looking for a first job and long-term unemployed;
In the case of steering or upper frame loads, this period can extend to the 240 days.
The rules change when we look at fixed-term employment contracts. In this case, when the contract lasts for six months or more, the trial period is 30 days. When the duration is shorter, the trial period is only 15 days.
ONE duplication of the experimental period, cited by Martins, was okay in 2019 in the Assembly of the Republic, by the deputies of the PS and the PSD, going from 90 days to 180 days in the case of young people looking for their first job and the long-term unemployed.
Faced with this approval, the Left Bloc promised at the time to appeal to the Constitutional Court. “If this norm is approved, we will be under the obligation to raise whether this norm complies with the constitutional precepts“, said the deputy José Soeiro. This measure was also widely criticized by the PCP. The communist deputy Rita Rato underlined, in 2019, that she represented the “total law of the jungle” and that a “counterpart” is determined to the measures that limited the contracting of a term.
And the trial period in Spain, is it really two months, as indicated by Martins?
According to Labor and Social Security Code of Spain, in the absence of collective agreements, the duration of the trial period cannot exceed six months for technicians, not two months for the other workers. In the case of temporary fixed-term contracts, concluded for a period not exceeding six months, the probationary period cannot exceed one month, except as provided for in the collective agreement.
In short, Martins’ statement is truth. Workers who in Portugal have seen their trial period double (long-term unemployed and people looking for their first job), as of 2019, may be subject to a six-month trial period.
In other words, they join the category of workers who have loads of technical complexity or exercise a high degree of responsibility. Spain, only technical technicians get a six-month trial period. In other cases, the period of two months applies.
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