The covid-19 pandemic has had a great impact in Spain. With the purpose of slowing down the spread of the virus and controlling the situation, the government declared the state of alarm and imposed restrictions to people’s movement and social contact (including temporary confinement of the population at home). Most economic and working activities were temporarily paralysed, leaving apart those considered «essential services» and other exceptions. With the aim of reducing the economic and social impact of such extraordinary circumstances, protecting workers and allowing to resume working activities after the crisis, the government approved a package of urgent legislation, including a large list of measures in the area of Labour Law and Social Security: among others, promoting telework; facilitating the adaptation of working time to family care needs; favouring the temporary suspension of employment contracts or the reduction of working time due to force majeure or other grounds related to covid-19, while dismissals were limited; establishing an extraordinary paid leave for workers of undertakings forced to stop their activity; finally, adapting and enhancing unemployment benefits and other forms of social protection. This paper provides a panoramic explanation on this legislation aiming to face the covid-19 health, economic and employment crisis
Keywords:
Covid-19, state of alarm, telework, temporary suspension of employment contracts, temporary reduction in working hours, force majeure, dismissals, social security benefits
Author Biography
Iván Antonio Rodríguez Cardo, Universidad de Oviedo, España
Iván Antonio Rodríguez Cardo es profesor titular de la Universidad de Oviedo de España y experto nacional en la European Labour Law Network. Su correo electrónico es rodriguezivan@uniovi.es. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0721-467X.
Rodríguez Cardo, I. A. (2020). Labour and social security measures to deal with the emergency caused by covid-19: The spanish experience. Revista Chilena De Derecho Del Trabajo Y De La Seguridad Social, 11(22), 115–145. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-7551.2020.58292
