Contract Suspension ERTE Spain (Acuerdo de Suspensión)

An ERTE Contract Suspension Agreement Spain (Expediente de Regulación Temporal de Empleo — ERTE) is a formal legal mechanism under Article 47 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2015) through which an employer (empresario) may temporarily suspend employment contracts or reduce working hours (reducción de jornada) for economic, technical, organisational, or production causes (causas ETOP), without terminating the employment relationship or incurring severance obligations. During suspension, the employment contract is frozen — the employee does not work and the employer does not pay wages — while the worker receives unemployment benefit (prestación por desempleo) from the Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (SEPE) under Articles 267 to 271 of the Ley General de la Seguridad Social (Real Decreto Legislativo 8/2015).

The ERTE for ETOP causes under Article 47 ET requires a consultation period (período de consultas) with workers' legal representatives — the works council (comité de empresa) or trade union delegates (delegados sindicales) of CCOO (Comisiones Obreras), UGT (Unión General de Trabajadores), or other representative unions. The consultation period lasts a maximum of 15 calendar days (7 days if the company has fewer than 50 workers). At the end of the consultation, the employer and workers' representatives may reach an agreement (acuerdo de suspensión), which must be notified to the Autoridad Laboral (Dirección General de Trabajo, Dirección General de Trabajo e Inmigración of the relevant Autonomous Community) and to the SEPE.

A Reducción de Jornada ERTE allows the employer to reduce working hours between 10% and 70% of the ordinary working day under Article 47 ET, rather than fully suspending contracts — a measure frequently used during downturns to retain skilled workers while adjusting labour costs proportionally. Workers on reduced hours retain pro-rated wages for hours worked and receive partial unemployment benefit from the SEPE for the suspended portion.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a major expansion of ERTE usage in Spain — Royal Decree-Law 8/2020 created special ERTE for force majeure linked to the pandemic, and successive regulatory extensions (Royal Decree-Laws 24/2020, 30/2020, 2/2021) developed a specific ERTE framework for sectors most affected (ERTE ETOP Covid, ERTE de impedimento, ERTE de limitación). The experience shaped the current permanent ERTE regulatory framework introduced by Real Decreto-Ley 32/2021 and the Ley 32/2021 de reforma laboral, which reinforced the ERTE as the preferred alternative to redundancy.

The Mecanismo RED (Mecanismo de Flexibilidad y Estabilización del Empleo) introduced by the 2021 Labour Reform under Article 47 bis ET provides an additional ERTE-like instrument activated by Government Council decision for cyclical economic crises or sectoral adjustment needs, with enhanced SEPE benefits and exemptions from social security contributions (exoneraciones de cuotas) for participating employers.

The legal framework governing the Contract Suspension ERTE Spain (Acuerdo de Suspensión) in Spain draws on several key statutes and regulatory bodies. Under the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (ET) RDL 2/2015, Spanish employment law governs contracts, dismissals, and working conditions. The Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS) administers social security contributions. The Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (SEPE) manages unemployment benefits. The Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social enforces labour compliance. The Juzgados de lo Social hear employment disputes under the Ley Reguladora de la Jurisdicción Social (Ley 36/2011).

An ERTE Contract Suspension Agreement Spain is needed when a company experiences a temporary reduction in activity due to economic, technical, organisational, or production causes under Article 47 ET, and the employer wishes to temporarily reduce labour costs without resorting to permanent dismissals (despidos colectivos or despidos objetivos), thus preserving the employment relationship for when activity resumes.

The ERTE is required when a company suffers a significant and unexpected drop in orders, revenue, or production that makes full employment temporarily unviable — the economic cause (causa económica) under Article 47 ET is met when the company records actual or anticipated losses (pérdidas actuales o previstas) or a sustained decrease in income or sales for two consecutive quarters.

An Acuerdo de Suspensión is needed when a business must adapt to a structural change in its market, introduce new technologies, or reorganise its production processes — meeting the technical (causa técnica), organisational (causa organizativa), or production cause (causa productiva) thresholds under Article 47 ET when the changes require a temporary adjustment in workforce deployment.

The agreement is required when an employer with fewer than 50 workers wishes to suspend contracts for 10 or more days within a 90-day period, or when an employer with 50 or more workers plans suspensions affecting the thresholds in Article 51 ET — in both cases a formal ERTE procedure is mandatory before implementing any suspension.

An ERTE is needed as an alternative to collective redundancy (despido colectivo) under Article 51 ET when the employer believes the economic difficulties are temporary — the ERTE avoids severance costs (20 or 33 days per year of service) and maintains the employer's access to trained workers once conditions improve, while workers retain their jobs and accumulate seniority during suspension.

Parties in Spain should prepare a Contract Suspension ERTE Spain (Acuerdo de Suspensión) proactively rather than waiting for a dispute to arise. The Estatuto de los Trabajadores (ET) RDL 2/2015 governs Spanish employment law. The Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS) administers social security contributions. The Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (SEPE) manages unemployment benefits. The Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social enforces labour compliance. The Juzgados de lo Social hear employment disputes under the Ley 36/2011.

A valid ERTE Contract Suspension Agreement Spain under Article 47 ET and Real Decreto 1483/2012 must contain the following elements to satisfy legal requirements and enable SEPE processing of worker unemployment benefits.

Identification of Parties: The employer's full legal name, NIF/CIF, registered address, Código de Cuenta de Cotización (CCC) assigned by the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS), and the name of the legal representative. The workers' representatives involved in the consultation — members of the comité de empresa or delegados de personal — must be identified with their names and union affiliation.

Cause for Suspension: A detailed statement of the ETOP cause (causa económica, técnica, organizativa, o de producción) justifying the ERTE, supported by documentary evidence — financial statements (cuentas anuales), contracts lost, market reports, or technical studies. The cause statement must demonstrate both the existence of the cause and its direct connection to the need for temporary suspension.

Scope of Suspension: The number of workers affected (trabajadores afectados), identified by name, job title (puesto de trabajo), and professional group (grupo profesional). The percentage of working hours to be suspended or reduced for each affected worker, and whether suspension is total (suspensión total) or partial (reducción de jornada) — between 10% and 70% for reducción de jornada.

Duration: The proposed start date (fecha de inicio) and end date (fecha de fin) of the suspension — Article 47 ET does not set a maximum duration for ETOP ERTEs, but the cause must subsist throughout. The agreement should specify the procedure for early re-activation of suspended workers (llamamiento) when activity resumes.

SEPE Notification: The employer must simultaneously notify the SEPE of the suspension commencement and provide the SEPE with a collective communication (comunicación colectiva) listing all suspended workers — name, DNI, social security number (NSS), suspension dates, and percentage of hours suspended — to enable the SEPE to process individual unemployment benefit claims within 15 working days under Article 268 LGSS.

Social Security Contributions During Suspension: During ERTE suspension, the employer retains the obligation to pay both employer and employee social security contributions to the TGSS, unless the ERTE qualifies for exonerations (exoneraciones de cuotas) — available for ERTE for force majeure or under the Mecanismo RED — in which case the agreement must reference the applicable Royal Decree authorising the exemption.

Priority for Re-employment: An obligation on the employer to offer suspended workers priority for re-employment (derecho de preferencia al reingreso) over new external hires for positions with the same or equivalent job classification during the suspension period and for a period after its end, consistent with Article 47 ET and the acuerdo reached during the consultation period.

Prohibition on Overtime and New Hires: A clause confirming that during the ERTE suspension the employer will not contract new workers or authorise overtime for the job categories covered by the suspension, unless the workers' representatives agree otherwise — this is a mandatory minimum condition under Article 47 ET and SEPE administrative practice.

Forms-legal.com provides this ERTE Contract Suspension Agreement Spain template as a starting point. Employers should work with a qualified abogado laboralista or gestor laboral registered with the relevant Colegio Oficial to conduct the mandatory consultation period and file the required notifications with the Autoridad Laboral and SEPE, as procedural errors can invalidate the ERTE and expose the employer to claims for unfair dismissal under Article 124 of Ley 36/2011 (Ley Reguladora de la Jurisdicción Social).