Law 45/1999, of November 29, has introduced several measures to monitor and provide protection for relocations of workers under crossborder working arrangements.

There are a number of minimum terms of employment that employers in the European Union, and in the European Economic Area (the EU plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein) must guarantee to their employees relocated temporarily to Spain, except for merchant navy firms in respect of their sailing personnel, irrespective of the law applicable to their employment contracts. Nevertheless, Additional Provision no. 4 of Law 45/1999 provides for the possibility of extending its scope to third countries by virtue of international treaties.

In this connection, it should be borne in mind that in 2004 ten new Member States joined the European Union, in what was the biggest enlargement in its history. The new EU Member States are: the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Poland.

This Law applies to relocations for a limited time period in the following cases:

– Within the same company or within a group of companies.

– Under international services contracts.

– When the workers of a temporary employment agency are posted to a user company in another EU Member State.

The only exceptions to the above are in the case of employee relocations during training periods and those relocations that are not performed by temporary employment agencies for terms of less than eight days.

The minimum terms of employment to be guaranteed by employers in the above countries in accordance with Spanish labor legislation are: working time, pay (which must be at least that provided for the same post under the relevant legal provision, regulation or collective labor agreement), equality of treatment, the rules on underage work, prevention of occupational risks, nondiscrimination against temporary and part-time workers, respect for privacy, for dignity rights of strike an assembly, and the freedom to join a union and rights of strike and assembly, the freedom to join a labor union.
If employees relocated to Spain enjoy more favorable terms, those terms apply.

The employers in such cases are also required to disclose certain information, and perform certain obligations, to the labor authorities for monitoring and coordination purposes.

Specifically, they should report the relocation to the Spanish Labor Authorities before the worker starts to work and regardless of the duration of the relocation.

The legislation on labor infringements and penalties classifies a series of events in this respect. Formal defects in the reporting of worker relocations to Spain constitute a minor infringement, while the reporting of the relocation after it has been performed is a serious infringement. Failure to report the relocation and misrepresentation or concealment of the data contained in the report is considered to be gross infringements.

Failures to meet the minimum working conditions mentioned above, which are classified according to the penalties applicable to Spanish employers, are considered to be administrative infringements.