January 2025

The Official State Gazette (BOE) of January 3, 2025, published Organic Law 1/2025, of January 2, on measures concerning the efficiency of the Public Justice Service. The declared objective of this law is to modify the judicial organization in Spain by establishing a system that operates collegially and to undertake the necessary modifications to expedite and achieve the efficiency of justice.

STRUCTURE

This is an extensive regulation structured into two titles, eight additional provisions, fifteen transitional provisions, one derogatory provision, and thirty-eight final provisions.

ENTRY INTO FORCE

The law is set to enter into force generally three months after its publication in the BOE, i.e., on April 3, 2025, with the following exceptions:

• Title I, Additional Provision 1, Transitional Provisions One to Eight, and Final Provision 6 will come into force twenty days after publication, i.e., on January 23, 2025.

• The attribution of competences in sexual violence matters to the Courts of Violence against Women (Article 1.28), as well as the modifications to Article 14 of the Criminal Procedure Act, Article 20.1 of Law 50/1981, of December 30, which regulates the Statute of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and paragraph (h) of Article 2 of Law 1/1996, of January 10, on Free Legal Assistance, will enter into force nine months after publication, i.e., on October 3, 2025.

KEY ASPECTS OF INTEREST

For legal and labor purposes, it is important to consider:

I. The general modification provided in Title I, which also affects social jurisdiction.

II. The modifications in Title II concerning Law 36/2011, of October 10, regulating social jurisdiction.

III. Certain Final Provisions. Specifically:

a) The fourteenth final provision amends Law 35/2006, of November 28, on Personal Income Tax and partial amendments to the Corporate Tax, Non-Residents Income Tax, and Inheritance and Donations Tax laws.

b) The twenty-fifth final provision introduces an amendment to Law 23/2015, of July 21, which organizes the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate System.

c) The twenty-sixth final provision modifies the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of October 23.

For these purposes, it is important to examine the content of these Final Provisions, which entail the following:

• Final Provision Fourteenth amends Law 35/2006, of November 28, on Personal Income Tax and partially amends the Corporate Tax, Non-Residents Income Tax, and Wealth Tax laws, specifically concerning the exemption of severance or termination indemnities for workers. This amendment aims to eliminate any interpretative doubts and to explicitly confirm at the legal level that such indemnities do not arise from an agreement, collective bargaining, or contract, but from an administrative settlement prior to initiating judicial proceedings in labor disputes.

One. The provisions d), e), and k) of Article 7 are amended to read as follows:

d) Indemnities resulting from civil liability for physical or psychological damages, paid by the insurer of the party responsible for the damage and not covered in the previous paragraph, when arising from a mediation agreement or any other legally established alternative dispute resolution method, provided that a neutral third party has intervened in obtaining the agreement and the agreement has been formalized in a public deed, up to the amount determined by applying the system for valuing damages and losses caused to individuals in traffic accidents, incorporated as an annex in the consolidated text of the Law on Civil Liability and Insurance in the Circulation of Motor Vehicles, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2004, of October 29.

Similarly, indemnities for personal damages resulting from accident insurance contracts shall be exempt, except those whose premiums could have reduced the taxable base or been considered deductible expenses under Rule 1 of paragraph 2 of Article 30 of this law, up to the amount determined by applying the system for valuing damages and losses caused to individuals in traffic accidents, incorporated as an annex in the consolidated text of the Law on Civil Liability and Insurance in the Circulation of Motor Vehicles, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2004, of October 29.

e) Severance or termination indemnities for workers, in the amount established as mandatory in the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of October 23, in its implementing regulations or, where applicable, in the regulations governing the enforcement of judgments, without considering as such those established by agreement, collective bargaining, or contract.

When the employment contract is terminated prior to the conciliation act, severance indemnities will be exempt if they do not exceed the amount that would have corresponded had the dismissal been declared unfair, and provided they are not mutual terminations within the framework of collective voluntary departure plans or systems.

Notwithstanding the above, in cases of dismissal or termination resulting from employment regulation files processed in accordance with Article 51 of the Workers’ Statute and approved by the competent authority, or those arising from the causes specified in paragraph c) of Article 52 of the same Statute, provided that, in both cases, they are due to economic, technical, organizational, production, or force majeure reasons, the portion of the indemnity received that does not exceed the limits established as mandatory in the aforementioned Statute for unfair dismissal will be exempt.

The indemnities agreed upon in the conciliation act before the administrative service referred to in Article 63 of Law 36/2011, of October 10, regulating the social jurisdiction, shall not be considered as indemnities established by agreement, collective bargaining, or contract.

The exempt indemnity amount referred to in this paragraph shall have a limit of 180,000 euros.

k) Annuities for maintenance received from parents under the regulatory agreement referred to in Article 90 of the Civil Code, or the equivalent agreement provided in the legal systems of the Autonomous Communities, approved by the judicial authority or formalized before the legal counsel of the Administration of Justice, or in a public deed before a notary, regardless of whether such agreement derives from any legally established dispute resolution mechanism.

Annuities for maintenance received from parents pursuant to a judicial decision in cases other than those specified in the preceding paragraph are also exempt.

• The twenty-fifth final provision of Organic Law 1/2025, dated January 2, 2025, amends Law 23/2015 of July 21, which organizes the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate System. It introduces a new eleventh additional provision that authorizes labor inspectors to perform certain conciliation, mediation, and arbitration functions in labor disputes unrelated to their inspection duties. These activities are conducted within autonomous conflict resolution systems established through interprofessional agreements or collective bargaining agreements as per Article 83 of the Workers’ Statute, or in accordance with the arbitration functions outlined in Article 76 of the same Statute. Importantly, these activities are exempt from the incompatibility regime established by Law 53/1984, of December 26, concerning incompatibilities in public administration service.

The Twenty-Fifth Final Provision amends Law 23/2015, of July 21, the Law Organizing the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate System, by introducing a new eleventh additional provision, which reads as follows:

Eleventh Additional Provision. Incompatibility Regime.

The officials referred to in Article 3 of this Law may perform conciliation, mediation, and arbitration activities in strikes and other labor conflicts unrelated to their inspection duties, within the scope of autonomous labor dispute resolution systems established through interprofessional agreements or collective agreements referred to in Article 83 of the Workers’ Statute, in accordance with the regulatory rules governing their operation, as well as arbitration functions provided for in Article 76 of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of October 23, provided that these activities are not permanent.

Such activities are exempted from the incompatibility regime established in Law 53/1984, of December 26, on incompatibilities of public administration personnel.

This amendment, introduced by the Organic Law 1/2025, of January 2, aims to enhance the role of labor inspectors in alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, fostering a more collaborative approach to resolving labor conflicts.

• The Final Provision Twenty-Sixth amends the Consolidated Text of the Workers’ Statute Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of October 23, in two significant aspects.

• The following shall constitute just causes for the employee to request termination of the contract:

  a) Substantial changes in working conditions carried out without adhering to the provisions of Article 41 and that result in detriment to the dignity of the worker.

  b) Non-payment or continued delays in the payment of the agreed salary

  Without prejudice to other cases that the judge or tribunal may consider just cause for these purposes, delay shall be understood to occur when the payment date is exceeded by fifteen days, and the cause exists when the worker is owed three full monthly salaries within a year, even if not consecutive, or when there is a delay in salary payment over six months, even if not consecutive.

  c) Any other serious breach of obligations by the employer, except in cases of force majeure, as well as the employer’s refusal to reinstate the worker to their previous working conditions in the cases provided for in Articles 40 and 41, when a judicial decision has declared them unjustified. In such cases, the worker shall be entitled to the compensation specified for unfair dismissal.

Two. The text of letter b) of section 4 of article 53 is amended to read as follows:

«b) For pregnant workers, from the date of the start of pregnancy until the beginning of the suspension period referred to in letter a); for workers who have requested one of the permissions referred to in sections 3.b), 4, 5 and 6 of article 37, or are enjoying them, or have requested or are enjoying the adaptations of working hours provided for in article 34.8 or the leave provided for in article 46.3; and for workers who are victims of gender-based violence or sexual violence, for the exercise of their right to effective judicial protection or the rights recognized in this law to ensure their protection or their right to comprehensive social assistance.»

Three. The letter b) of section 5 of article 55 is modified and is worded as follows:

«b) That of pregnant workers, from the date of the start of pregnancy until the beginning of the suspension period referred to in letter a); that of workers who have requested one of the leaves referred to in sections 3.b), 4, 5, and 6 of article 37, or are enjoying them, or have requested or are enjoying the work schedule adaptations provided for in article 34.8 or the leave provided for in article 46.3; and that of workers who are victims of gender-based violence or sexual violence, for the exercise of their right to effective judicial protection or the rights recognized in this law to make effective their protection or their right to comprehensive social assistance.»