This Monday, March 7, 2022, the deadline for companies to include a plan for labor and salary equality in their activity ends. These companies must have a set of concrete measures aimed at eliminating any obstacle that prevents the effective equality of women and men.
At the moment, this norm only obliges firms with more than 50 workers, so small companies, micro-companies and the self-employed do not have a duty to abide by the order and its application will be voluntary.
It should be noted that, when computing the number of workers, the Administration includes all employees, regardless of their working hours or their type of contract.
Specifically, this action plan must address, at least, the following aspects:
– Selection and hiring process.
– Professional classification.
– Training.
– Professional promotion.
– Working conditions.
– Labor conciliation plans.
– Female underrepresentation.
– Payments.
– Prevention of sexual and gender-based harassment.
What should the equality plan established by the Government include?
The norm obliges companies to carry out an analysis of the operation of their workforce in order to identify the aspects that prevent effective equality between men and women. From here, they should focus on solving these problems, attending to each and every one of the aforementioned areas.
How often do you have to make an equality plan?
On the other hand, these businesses must incorporate the plan they prepare into a public registry. However, it should be remembered that these plans will only be valid for four years, so if the company already had one, but it dates back four years, a new plan must be formalized.
In addition, this new document must incorporate improvements with respect to the previous one. Otherwise, the Labor Inspectorate will write an unfavorable report.
What problems do I have to address?
As a starting point, the Administration does not establish specific measures that must be included in the plan, so the identification of problems in each area of action will be the work of the company.
What should the plan include regarding the selection and hiring process?
Thus, regarding the selection and hiring process, the company should pay attention to the language used in job offers, to the elimination of any question about marital status, number of children, marriage, height, weight or family data.
What should the plan include regarding female underrepresentation?
Regarding training, the company has to focus on ensuring that the proportion of men and women on the workforce does not exceed 60% in either of the two cases, although non-compliance could be justified due to a lack of candidates or production needs in a sector concrete.
What should the plan include regarding training?
Putting the spotlight on training, it is important that the firm train its employees on equality, gender violence and employment discrimination.
What should the plan include regarding reconciliation?
For its part, reconciliation will be a very important point to take into account, so the company should promote support services for reconciling work and personal life and awareness campaigns. This must include an annual training plan where all employees are registered, as well as the subjects they have learned.
What should the plan include regarding promotion?
In order to limit the glass ceiling, in addition to training employees with equal opportunities to reach management positions, companies must incorporate internal promotion plans that can be accessed by anyone, regardless of gender.
What should the plan include regarding compensation?
Considering the remuneration of the employees, the company must, first of all, analyze the average salary of its company and verify that the bulk of the women on the staff are not below it, in such a way that the same income is guaranteed for both men and women for doing the same work.
Sanctions for breaching the equality plan
Those companies that do not adapt to the norm and, therefore, have not registered an equality plan will face different sanctions.
Specifically, the law establishes a fine of 70 euros in its minimum degree, in the case of a minor infraction, and of 225,018 euros in its maximum degree, in the case of very serious infractions.
However, the Administration establishes some accessory sanctions for these offenders, such as the loss of public contracts, as well as the temporary disqualification to formalize them, and the automatic loss of aid, bonuses and, in general, the benefits derived from the application of employment programs for six months.
Who can report non-compliance?
The control of application and sanction in case of non-compliance with the equality plans in companies corresponds to the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate.
However, it can also be the unions, or the affected people themselves, who report the situation to these organizations.
Only five Ibex companies have a valid plan
As a starting point, it must be remembered that this March 7 is the deadline for companies with more than 50 employees to register a plan. However, this obligation has been gradual and the largest companies have been required since previous years.
Specifically, firms with more than 100 workers would have to have registered an equality plan before March 8, 2021, just as companies with more than 150 workers would have to do so before March 8, 2020.
In response to this obligation, it should be noted that only five Ibex firms have a registered and current plan: Acciona, Acerinox, Almirall, Amadeus and Telefónica.
For their part, Ferrovial, Merlin and Red Eléctrica de España are in the process of registering their plan. Meanwhile, Aena and Repsol are waiting for the signing of the agreement.
The other side of the coin shows ACS, BBVA, Colonial, Endesa, IAG, Naturgy, Rovi, Sabadell and Solaria, nine companies that have not registered any plan.
The rest of the companies are still negotiating the agreement, although two companies stand out for having included an equality plan in their activity before it became mandatory and now it has expired: Iberdrola and Melia.
Facebook Comments
Disqus