It is advisable to carefully study the employment contracts that we sign to know what our rights are as workers. Especially in everything that has to do with aspects related to trial periods, since they must meet a series of specific characteristics to be valid.
The employment contracts They require advance notice that must be given to the worker if they want to dispense with their services at any time. The only exception is found in the trial periods, that serve for both parties, worker and company, to check whether the employment relationship meets their expectations. While this period lasts, both can terminate the contract without having to give advance notice.
Another of the peculiarities of trial periods is that it is not necessary to give any compensation to the worker at the time they are notified of the termination of their services. Many companies do not set the trial period with the exact duration, but instead hide behind the classic “according to agreement.” Something that is illegal and that makes the contract immediately indefinite, so we would be susceptible to receiving financial compensation. Although, for this, we must be attentive.
Look at the trial period of your contract
It was the Huffington Post that echoed the news through a video posted on Instagram by the lawyer Ignacio de la Calzada González, in which he reports this situation. A resource that many companies use when drafting their contracts is to refer to the agreement or the Workers’ Statute to set the trial period. However, this is not legal, since it must be fixed the exact duration. Normally, in the third clause of the contract.
The employment relationship in the event of dismissal, as long as the exact duration is not written of the trial periodwould become indefinite from day one. Therefore, in the event that the employer chooses to proceed with the separation of the two parties, in addition to the notice, they should also pay the corresponding compensation. A situation that, as workers, we must take into account to receive all the corresponding concepts.
A violation of rights
In addition to the reference mentioned previously, the Supreme Court He has also referred to this issue in ruling 4741/2024, of September 24. According to said ruling, the failure to specify the duration of said period causes a violation of the worker’s right to know its exact duration in writing. Therefore, it also considers that the use of references to the agreement or the Statute lacks validity for the worker, since all information must be well recorded.
In this situation, the company has to choose whether reinstate the workerhaving suffered an unfair dismissal, or pay the corresponding compensation that should be calculated taking into account both the days that they have served the company and the advance notice that is mandatory to give in the case of a permanent worker.
