September 2025
This year, at Sagardoy, we have sought to innovate in the way we present our services, aligning this with the strategy we began a few years ago to continually enhance the daily practice of law for the benefit of our clients.
Labour regulation, employment relations, the ever-changing talent landscape, and the emergence of artificial intelligence and its impact on work compel us to rethink how we deliver our advice and services in line with the new challenges facing companies in their day-to-day operations. This effort encompasses both substance (the content of our legal offering) and form (the way in which we deliver it). For us, excellence must be broad in scope and aspirational in nature—it is the principle that guides every professional at Sagardoy.
It is in this context that we are introducing this new Sagardoy Newsletter—another piece in our vision of supporting clients and the wider legal community. Our aim is to explain and systematise, in an accessible way, key regulatory and case law developments, the activities of the Ius Laboris alliance, and the latest news from within Sagardoy itself.
We recently launched a new website and corporate identity for the firm, an opportunity to fundamentally rethink our digital presence with a clear objective: to offer a more visual, clearer, and user-friendly experience, with concise and agile content in line with current trends and the way information is consumed today.
Alongside the website, we officially introduced our new logo: from Sagardoy Abogados to simply Sagardoy. This reflects a more contemporary and coherent identity aligned with our evolution as a firm. Of course, we are lawyers—but we also see ourselves as advisers in the broadest sense, offering confidence not only in technical legal matters but also in areas related to talent strategy within the organisations that place their trust in us. We go beyond the purely legal, because a legal opinion alone has limited value if it is not accompanied by quality business-oriented advice that takes into account the way our clients understand their company and society at large.
This Newsletter is therefore intended to reflect that reality—it is not just a technical note that could be obtained from ChatGPT or Google. Each edition must clearly embody the purpose of our service.
So far this year, we have addressed a number of significant legal developments in our Sagardoy Legal News. Highlights include:
- Commentary on Organic Law 1/2025 of 2 January, on measures to improve efficiency in the public justice service, which introduces new procedures in labour proceedings, already fully in force.
- Analysis of the draft bill to reduce maximum working hours, regulate working-time registration, and reinforce the right to disconnect—currently under parliamentary debate (and possibly passed by the time this Newsletter is published).
- Commentary on Royal Decree 87/2025 of 11 February, setting the statutory minimum wage for 2025.
- Commentary on Law 2/2025 of 29 April, amending the Workers’ Statute (Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015 of 23 October) and the General Social Security Law (Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015 of 30 October) in relation to permanent incapacity, with major implications for dismissal and contract termination on incapacity grounds.
- Legal analysis of the labour consequences of the nationwide power outage of 28 April (“the blackout”), including urgent measures on leave and permissions.
- Examination of pay transparency obligations under Directive (EU) 2023/970 and their interaction with existing Spanish legislation.
- Commentary on the decision of the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) in Collective Complaint No. 218/2022 (CCOO v. Spain) concerning the adequacy of protection against unfair dismissal.
- Commentary on Royal Decree-Law 9/2025 of 29 July, extending parental leave entitlements.
- Commentary on Supreme Court Judgment 736/2025, rejecting additional compensation for unfair dismissal and confirming that Article 24 of the European Social Charter is not directly applicable under Spanish law.
These analyses, prepared with exceptional rigour by our of counsel Gemma Fabregat, Professor of Labour Law at the University of Valencia, have guided both clients and colleagues in making informed decisions on matters of significant practical importance.
In addition, our working breakfasts, webinars, and seminars have contributed to fulfilling our mission of informing and educating—an essential part of our identity as a firm seeking to lead labour law advisory services in Spain.
With this new Newsletter, we aim to continue that mission, but in a broader and more refined way. Many key developments are still on the horizon within the Government’s annual legislative programme: the statute for trainees undertaking non-labour practical training in companies; a law on workplace democracy to promote more effective worker participation; a law on business representativeness for SMEs; a new minimum wage law; possible new rules on dismissal; and, of course, the long-awaited reform of working time.
We will continue to monitor these developments closely and provide practical insights into each as they evolve. We hope this Newsletter proves useful, and we thank you for placing your trust in Sagardoy.
Iñigo Sagardoy de Simón
President
