Changes

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The labour market began to feel rapidly the impact of the pandemic short after 14 March 2020. The public administrations quickly took hefty measures to lessen the effects of lockdown for both companies and workers. One of the main priorities of Royal Decree Law 8/2020 of 17 March, on extraordinary urgent measures to reduce the economic and social impact of COVID-19, was to protect the productive and social fabric so that it could resume normal activity as soon as possible. One of the most important and effective mechanisms was Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, officially called ‘Temporary Employment Regulation Scheme’, which is a furlough-type instrument which already existed in Spanish regulation but was adapted to fit the new scenario. This instrument allowed companies to temporarily suspend an employment contract or reduce its working hours whilst keeping the employment relationship. Whilst this Scheme was in force, workers received a payment from the government to compensate for the total or partial loss of their salary. Two new furlough schemes were set, i.e. one due to force majeure and the other due to objective reasons. Both were intended to prevent lay-offs linked to uncertainty and the drop in activity caused by lockdown. The intensity and duration of the health crisis forced the public administrations to lengthen this mechanism on several occasions, to the extent that it was still in force in June 2021.