F.O.L. BILINGÜE UNIT FIVE
UNIT 5
SUMMARY: 1. – INTRODUCTION 2. – FUNCTIONAL MOBILITY 3. - GEOGRAPHIC MOBILITY 4. - FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES IN THE LABOUR CONTRACT 5. - DISCIPLINARY DISMISSAL 6. - OBJECTIVE DISMISSAL 7. - A LAWSUIT 8. - DIFFERENT SENTENCES BY LABOUR JUDGES
VOCABULARY: Displacement:
desplazamiento
Transfer:
traslado
Termination of contract:
extinción del contrato
To Fire (f.):
despedir
To terminate (f.):
finalizar
To dismiss (formal):
despedir
To get the sack (less formal, br.):
ser despedido, me echaron/han echado
To get laid off (less formal, am.):
ser despedido, me echaron/han echado
To quit (informal, br. am.):
marcharse de la empresa, irse
To resign (formal, br. am.):
dimitir
To put in one’s “two-week notice” (less formal, am.): Dar un preaviso Mª Isabel Pérez Ortega
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“I put/turned in my two-week notice to the manager.” To retire:
jubilarse
To change:
cambiar
Task:
tareas
Category:
categoría
To belong to:
pertenecer a
Mobility:
mobilidad
To allow:
permitir
To provide:
proporcionar
To require:
requerir
To agree:
estar de acuerdo
To comply:
cumplir
To complain:
reclamar
Compensation:
indemnización
To keep:
conservar
To earn:
ganar
To cover:
cubrir
In advance:
por adelantado
To receive:
recibir
Shift:
turno
Property:
propiedad
Schedule:
horario
To oppose:
oponerse
To cancel:
cancelar
Mª Isabel Pérez Ortega
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To be related to:
estar relacionado con
Resolution:
resolución
Damage:
daño
To Recognize:
reconocer
To return:
volver a
To obey:
obedecer
Absences:
ausencias
Offences:
daños
1. – INTRODUCTION Labour contracts can be changed and these changes can negatively affect the workers life. These changes can be:
1. Performing tasks which are not adequate to the professional category of the worker. For example, the worker has to do tasks that belong to a lower professional category or the worker has to do some tasks that belong to a higher professional category. The employer can ask you to do a job that belongs to a professional category higher than yours. If you are working in a higher category you have the right to earn the Mª Isabel Pérez Ortega
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salary that corresponds to that job. When you have to do a job in a lower or higher professional category, we talk about: Functional Mobility. 2. To move temporarily or permanently to another location. When you have to move to another job centre in another area/locality we talk about: Geographic Mobility. 3. To change the working day, the timetable, how the company pays the workers, etc... When the company changes important points of your contract (Working day, timetable, the way to be paid, etc…) we talk about: Substantial changes in the working conditions. The law allows the employer/the company to make these important changes in the worker's contract provided that the employer has important economic reasons or organizational problems in production or technical areas.
The worker may: - accept these changes. - If the worker does not agree with the changes, he will have to obey and comply with these changes and/or he can go and issue complaints to a judge if these changes were not necessary.
Mª Isabel Pérez Ortega
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- Finally, you may not agree with the changes and do not want to continue working in the company. In some cases the company will have to pay the worker a small compensation (where permitted by the law). Let´s see these changes of the contract:
2. – FUNCTIONAL MOBILITY A) The employer may ask you to do a job that belongs to a lower professional category. For example, you are a waiter and the employer needs the floor to be cleaned. The cleaner is ill and is on a leave. The boss is worried because the Bar needs to be ready on time and it is not ready yet. The law says that there must be an important reason to ask you for changing your duties. The worker can accept the new duties or leave the company. In this case, you must obey and clean although you have the right to keep your salary; you will not earn less money than before. B) The employer may ask you to do a job that belongs to a higher professional category. In this case you have the right to earn the salary that corresponds to that professional category. In some cases, you could keep those duties in that professional category. If the worker doesn´t accept these changes he can leave the company, but he will not get any compensation at all. For example, the Manager of the Bar of a Hotel has been in a terrible accident and he will be on a leave for a long time. The boss has asked a Mª Isabel Pérez Ortega
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waiter to substitute for the Manager. The waiter will earn more money; he will get the same salary as a Manager.
3. - GEOGRAPHIC MOBILITY The employer may ask you to do your job in a different place temporarily or permanently. You will get some money to cover all the expenses related to the move and the company will have to communicate that decision in advance. If the worker doesn´t accept the change he can leave the company and he will get compensation. A. - Displacement (desplazamiento) When the worker must temporarily change his/her centre of work for a period of time. If the worker accepts the displacement, he has the right to get: travel expenses and 4-days of paid vacation every three months. If the worker does not accept the displacement, he has the right to go to court. B.-Transfer: (traslado) When the worker must change his/her centre of work and needs to change his/her residence, that is, the move will be forever. Mª Isabel Pérez Ortega
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If the worker accepts, he/she will receive compensation for the moving expenses. If the worker does not accept, he/she can terminate the contract and receive a compensation of 20-days salary for every year of service (one-year maximum).
4. - FUNDAMENTAL CHANGES IN THE LABOUR CONTRACT In the cases the company has technical, organizational, or economic problems and it can make some important changes in the workers labour contract. For example, the company has decided to change some of the workers “working day”. Now there will be some workers that no longer work in the morning, but work the evening shift. This may be a problem for some of these people. The job is not the property of the worker. The worker cannot discuss these changes with the boss. The worker can only accept and obey and if he disagrees with the company he may appeal the decision of the company. * What are the most substantial changes? -Schedule -Working day/week -Shift Mª Isabel Pérez Ortega
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-Method of payment -Work system and performance * What can the worker do? 1. The worker can accept the changes. 2. The worker can oppose the changes and do one of the following: A. Ask to cancel the contract when the changes are related to working day, schedule, or shift. He/she has the right to a compensation of 20-days salary for every year of service (one-year maximum). B. Ask for a judicial resolution of the contract; he/she has the right to compensation when the changes damage the dignity or professional formation of the worker. The compensation will equal 45-days salary for every year worked. C. Challenge the company’s decision judicially, so that the judge can declare that the changes were unjustified and recognize that the worker can return to his job in the same conditions as before the changes.
DISCIPLINARY ACTION Companies can use disciplinary action against employees when an employee violates the law. Examples include: 1- Not obeying the company’s rules. Mª Isabel Pérez Ortega
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2- Several absences in his/her job without being justified. 3- Physical or verbal offences to the company or to other workers. 4- Working less than you should. 5- Drinking alcohol or taking drugs before or during work (“being under the influence of drugs or alcohol”). In this case the worker will have to receive a letter explaining the reason why he/she has been fired. The worker will receive his/her money for the days that the worker has worked and the payslip. TO BE EXPELLED BECAUSE OF OBJECTIVE REASONS: The worker may be sacked/fired in these situations: 1- When he/she can’t adapt to the new technical changes that the company may have introduced. 2- When the company needs to remove some positions because of economic difficulties. 3- When the worker is no longer capable to do the job normally because he/she has had a disability that stops him/her from doing his/her job properly. 4- When the absences of the worker are so much, even though he/she justifies those absences. The company will have to notify in advance with a formal letter that the worker will be sacked/fired. The company has to point out the formal cause that expels the worker. At the same time the company will have to give the worker compensation. This compensation consists of 20 days of salary per year for each working year. There is a legal limit of 12 month salary.
Mª Isabel Pérez Ortega
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