Ongoing employment-law advice in Barcelona

Why ongoing advice is useful

Hiring, changes in hours, leave, remote work, sick leave, bonuses, negotiated exits: each query looks small, but together they define a company’s real employment policy. Having an adviser who already knows the organisation means faster answers without losing rigour.

Consistency matters, too. Treating similar situations differently without a documented reason is a frequent source of disputes and discrimination risk.

What it can cover

Reviewing contracts, letters and communications; interpreting the collective agreement and how it fits actual practice; policies on time recording, digital disconnection, remote work or device use; preparing for difficult conversations; and supporting the people team in delicate situations.

The scope and format — occasional queries, agreed availability or periodic review — are defined at the outset and in writing, so both sides know what to expect.

Prevention with business sense

Prevention does not mean removing all uncertainty or slowing decisions down. It means knowing the risks, deciding on an informed basis and recording why the decision was taken. Seventeen years in Cuatrecasas’ employment practice have given me a clear view of how complex organisations work and which questions to ask first.

A degree in Business Administration helps me understand the numbers behind a decision, and one in Psychology, the impact it will have on the people in the team.

Direct contact

You will work with me directly. I know the company’s context, so you do not need to explain it again with each query. If a matter needs input from other specialists, I say so openly.

For businesses in Barcelona and Catalonia, familiarity with the local landscape — sector agreements, the Catalan labour authority and Labour Inspectorate — is a natural part of the work.

Typical questions in an ordinary week

An employee asks to adapt their hours for family reasons; a manager wants to know whether the team’s shifts can change to cover a busy period; a temporary contract needs renewing or converting to permanent; someone returns from long-term sick leave and needs their role adapted; a new bonus is being considered and its terms must be drafted. Each of these has a reasonable legal answer if asked in time. Answered late, they tend to become disputes.

Within ongoing advice, it also pays to review the company’s core documents periodically: contract templates, remote-work policies, time recording, digital disconnection and protocols. Rules change, and what was correct two years ago may need updating.

How we begin

A first meeting is used to understand the business, its sector, the applicable collective agreement, team structure and the employment issues of greatest concern. From there I propose a scope and fees in writing. There are no unnecessary lock-ins: the aim is for the advice to be useful and to continue for that reason, not because of a contract.

If there are open matters — a claim, an inspection, a pending negotiation — they are prioritised from day one.

Contracts after the labour reform

Since the 2021 labour reform, the permanent contract is the rule and fixed-term contracts are limited to specific, well-documented causes: production circumstances or replacement of a worker. Using a temporary contract without a valid cause can turn it into a permanent one and carries penalties. Seasonal and intermittent activity is often better covered with an intermittent permanent contract. Choosing the correct contract at the start is far cheaper than correcting it later.

Obligations that are frequently overlooked

Some obligations apply to every company and are reviewed in inspections: the daily time-recording register, kept for four years and available to workers and their representatives; the salary register broken down by sex; a digital disconnection policy; and a harassment prevention procedure. Others depend on headcount, such as the equality plan and the internal whistleblowing channel for companies with fifty or more workers.

A periodic review of these points, adapted to your size and sector, prevents most of the findings that lead to fines.

Remote work and flexible arrangements

Regular remote work requires a written agreement covering, among other things, the place of work, schedule, equipment and expenses. Informal arrangements that started during exceptional periods often never received that documentation. Putting them in writing protects both sides and clarifies what happens if the company later wants everyone back in the office.

A point of contact, not a manual

The value of ongoing advice is having someone to call before a decision is made: before sending a warning, before changing a schedule, before refusing a request. Most disputes that reach court started with a decision that could have been framed differently.

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.