Following the publication of the Royal Decree 901/2020 and the Royal Decree 902/200 of the Royal Decree 901/2020 last October, the new regulatory environment concerning equality plans and equal pay measures includes rules with different effective dates, which in some cases, are subject to transition periods until 2022.
EQUALITY PLANS
We would like to remind you that after the regulatory modifications made through the Royal Decree-Law 6/2019, dated the 1st of March, on the urgent measures to guarantee equal opportunities and the equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation, which affect art. 45 of the Organic Law on Equality, the obligation to implement an Equality Plan for companies with more than 50 workers was extended in general and a transition period of three years was established, which started on the 7th of March, 2019.
This transition period is respected pursuant to the new regulation published in the Royal Decree 901/2020, dated the 13th of October, which comes into force on the 14th of January, 2021, (three months after its publication) which means that the obligation to implement the Equality Plan will have to be complied with:
- ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES WORKING IN THE COMPANY.
As mentioned in previous circulars we would like to remind you of the following:
| Until the 06/03/2020: | The obligation existed for companies with more than 250 employees. |
| From the 07/03/2020: | The obligation included companies with between 151 and 250 employees. |
| From the 07/03/2021: | Now it is obligatory for companies with between 101 and 150 employees. |
| From 07/03/2022: | The transition period will come to an end and all companies with more than 50 employees will have to comply with the obligation. |
B) WHEN THE COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT ESTABLISHES THAT IT IS ENFORCEABLE
Regardless of the number of employees, companies must draw up and implement an equality plan whenever the collective agreement establishes that it is applicable, pursuant to the terms provided for in it.
- WHEN THE LABOUR AUTHORITIES HAVE AGREED IN A DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE TO REPLACE THE ADDITIONAL PENALITIES WITH THE DRAWING UP AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS PLAN.
The companies will also draw up and implement an equality plan, after negotiating with or consulting, where appropriate, the legal representatives of the workers, when the labour authorities have agreed in a disciplinary procedure to replace the additional penalties with the drawing up and implementation of this plan, pursuant to the terms that are established in this agreement.
- WITH REGARD TO THE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES.
All the PUBLIC AUTHORITIES have to take measures aimed at avoiding any type of discrimination in the workplace between men and women, which means that “they must draw up and implement an equality plan to develop in the collective agreement or agreement on the working conditions of the civil servants, which is enforceable, pursuant to the terms provided in it”.
Content and matters to be dealt with in the equality plans:
- Selection and recruitment process
- Professional, training and professional promotion classification
- Working conditions, including the pay audit between men and women
- Co-responsibility for exercising the personal life, family and work-related rights
- Underrepresentation of women
- Salaries
- Prevention of sexual and gender-based harassment.
Equality plan records
The equality plans must be recorded in the corresponding public register, whatever their origin or nature, obligatory or voluntary, and whether they have been adopted under agreement between the parties or not.
Validity of the equality plan
The equality plan cannot last for more than 4 years.
Important: both the companies that already have an equality plan and those that are required by law to have one for the first time ever, must adapt their plans to the content established in the new Royal Decree 901/2020 within the period established for the review of such, bearing in mind that the deadline is the 14th of January, 2022.
PAY AUDIT
The Royal Decree 902/2020 on equal pay comes into force on the 14th of April, 2021 and we would like to remind you that the new developments related to this matter include the obligation to carry out a pay audit, which applies to all companies that are also required to have an Equality Plan and at the end of the aforesaid transition period it will affect all the companies that have at least 50 employees.
In the absence of the publication of a technical guide with specific instructions from the Spanish Institute of Women, which promotes equal opportunities, the pay audit establishes obligations for companies such as:
Assess the pay rate situation in the company, which includes evaluating job positions, both with regard to the salary system and the promotion system.
Establish an action plan to correct wage inequality, if this exists, along with objectives and specific activities, a schedule, personnel who are in charge of implementing this and following it up.
The pay audit will be valid for the same amount of time as the equality plan that it is part of, unless another time period that is shorter than this is established.
PAYROLL REGISTER
In the aforesaid Royal Decree 902/2020 on equal pay, which comes into force on the 14th of April, 2021 there is another new obligation for all companies, regardless of the number of employees on the payroll, to assess the job positions, pursuant to which the payroll register that has been drawn up must be updated (obligatory from March, 2019) and the results obtained by calculating the arithmetic means and the medians of the working groups of the same value in the company must be included in it.
Given the dispersion of the dates when the different new developments come into force, we have included a table that illustrates these:
