Collective redundancies and furloughs (ERE and ERTE) in Barcelona

Choosing the right procedure

A collective dismissal (ERE) terminates contracts when, for economic, technical, organisational or production-related reasons, certain thresholds are exceeded within ninety days. A temporary employment regulation (ERTE) suspends contracts or reduces hours temporarily, and there are specific variants such as the RED Mechanism.

The procedure is not chosen for convenience: it depends on the actual situation, its expected duration and the number of people affected. An early diagnosis avoids starting a process that does not fit the facts.

The consultation period

Both procedures require a consultation period with the legal employee representatives or, failing that, an appointed committee. It has a statutory maximum length and must be genuine: providing the required documentation, listening to proposals and exploring measures to reduce the impact.

Poorly prepared documentation or a purely formal negotiation can jeopardise the validity of the procedure. How the process is communicated, internally and externally, also needs planning.

The labour authority in Catalonia

In Catalonia, the labour authority is the Generalitat’s Department of Business and Labour (Departament d’Empresa i Treball) when the procedure affects workplaces located in the region. Notifications, the Labour Inspectorate’s report and deadlines follow the rules in force, which should be checked in each case.

With an ERTE there are ongoing obligations regarding which employees are included or released and notifications to the benefits agency, which must be followed carefully for its whole duration.

My role

I support the process from diagnosis to implementation: analysing the grounds, selection criteria, the explanatory report and technical report with financial advisers, preparing meetings, minutes and final documents, and handling what follows.

Experience of complex collective processes at a large firm, combined with the closeness of an independent practice, means technical rigour alongside a direct working relationship through especially intense weeks.

Alternatives worth exploring

Before and during a collective process it is sensible to study measures that reduce its impact: internal mobility, redeployment, reduced hours, incentivised voluntary departures, early retirement or other formulas. This is not a box-ticking exercise: exploring them genuinely is part of the good faith the consultation period requires and often makes agreement easier.

In larger collective dismissals, the law also requires an external outplacement plan and, in certain cases, financial contributions or a special Social Security agreement for older employees. These should be built into the cost of the process from the outset.

After the agreement

Signing the agreement does not end the work. Individual notices must be issued, commitments honoured, possible individual or collective challenges handled and, with an ERTE, the list of affected employees kept under review. A process documented properly from the start makes this phase much easier.

When a dismissal becomes collective

Terminations for economic, technical, organisational or production reasons are collective when, within ninety days, they affect at least ten workers in companies with fewer than one hundred, ten percent of staff in companies with between one hundred and three hundred, or thirty workers in companies with three hundred or more, or the entire workforce if it exceeds five. Spreading terminations over successive periods to avoid these thresholds can be treated as fraud and void the dismissals.

The consultation period in practice

The consultation period with workers' representatives lasts a maximum of thirty days, or fifteen in companies with fewer than fifty workers. It must be a genuine negotiation in good faith about avoiding or reducing dismissals and mitigating their effects. The company must provide the required documentation from the start: an explanatory report on the causes, the criteria for selecting affected workers and, in larger companies, an outplacement plan and accompanying social measures.

If there are no representatives, the workers can appoint a committee, and the time needed to form it affects the calendar. Planning that step early avoids last-minute pressure.

Temporary measures as an alternative

Before a dismissal, it is worth considering whether the situation is temporary. A temporary suspension or reduction of working hours (ERTE) keeps the employment relationship, allows workers to receive benefits during the suspension and preserves the team for recovery. It also has its own procedure and obligations, including restrictions on dismissals in some cases.

After the agreement

Individual dismissal letters must still be drafted and delivered properly, compensation paid and notifications made to the labour authority. Errors at this final stage can lead to individual claims even when the collective procedure was impeccable.

What to expect from the first conversation

In our first contact you tell me what happened and what worries you. I will tell you whether any deadline requires immediate action, which documents to gather and, broadly, which routes are available. If we decide to work together, you will receive the scope of the engagement and the fees in writing before anything starts.

You do not need to have everything in order or know the legal name for your situation — that is precisely my job. The one thing that matters is not letting time slip by when deadlines are involved. I work in Spanish, Catalan and English.