“Companies with more than fifty workers must have, within twelve months from the entry into force of this law, a planned set of measures and resources to achieve real and effective equality for LGTBI people” includes article 15 of law 4/2023, known as trans law. This time frame came to an end this Saturday, March 2, so companies are now obliged to have an action protocol to address harassment or violence against LGTBI people and guarantee an inclusive work environment. However, they have not had specific guidelines to develop them, given that the Government has not approved the regulatory development of this standard.
The Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, summoned social agents on February 13 to address this issue. Both the ‘number two’ of the portfolio, Joaquín Pérez Rey, and the spokespersons for the CCOO and UGT unions acknowledged after the meeting that they were late in complying with this obligation; Although the second vice presidency indicated that there was still some margin. Two weeks later, the Executive has not held any formal meeting with the unions and employers, although the negotiation sources consulted by La Información recognize that there has been an exchange of roles in which progress has been made in the drafting of the regulations. . either .
At the moment no date has been set for the next meeting, but the parties agree on the need to move forward quickly, given the uncertainty that companies have conveyed to both workers’ and employers’ representatives. Some of the main law firms in Spain in the Labor field also conveyed the concerns of their clients about the development of this protocol a few weeks ago to this medium, who had offered different answers according to their criteria. Some firms had opted to develop plans from scratch based on those intended to avoid any discrimination based on gender, while others had added sections to these previous texts.
According to the January Social Security registry, more than 32,000 companies will be affected by this obligation, having more than 50 workers. Currently, there are 26,478 companies with between 50 and 250 employees, another 2,991 with up to 499 employees and 2,540 with more than 500 workers. However, the possibility of delaying the date of entry into force of this obligation has not been formally raised, despite the fact that at the time of inaugurating this social dialogue table it already seemed unlikely that it would be possible to move forward with the text in just a short time. two weeks. Especially because the Ministry of Labor did not present a paper to work on at that meeting.
“The Government has not been able to fulfill its wish with that date of regulatory development due to elections that paralyzed the legislative process. I believe that this date serves as a reference for the urgency and the need to move forward as soon as possible,” he limited himself to responding. The Secretary of State for Employment then when asked about this issue. But once the date has been reached, it has not even been revealed what perimeter these LGTBI protocols must cover, so both laborers and companies assume that they will have to modify them as soon as the aforementioned regulation is published.
The experts consulted by this means emphasize the differences that this package of measures presents in its design to achieve effective equality and the protocol against violence towards the LGTBI community with respect to those known as equality plans. In this case, there will be no identification by the company of which workers it should be applied to, but rather the design that is on the negotiation table seeks to create a work environment in which no person can be discriminated against due to their orientation. . sexual identity or gender expression; since otherwise the right to privacy of these people would be violated. Therefore, they emphasize the importance of ending this legal uncertainty so that they are effective.
