Royal Decree-Law 7/2024, of November 11, adopting urgent measures to promote the Immediate Response, Reconstruction and Relaunch Plan against the damage caused by the Isolated Depression at High Levels (DANA) in different municipalities between October 28 and November 4, 2024.
The Council of Ministers has approved the Royal Decree-Law of urgent measures for the Promotion of the Immediate Response, Reconstruction and Relaunch Plan against the damage caused by the DANA, with a total of 110 measures, which have the objective of advancing in the first phase of immediate response and in the second phase of reconstruction, within the aforementioned Plan.
These new measures, which are added to those of Royal Decree Law 6/2024, of November 5, are intended to expand and reinforce the social shield launched the previous week and to help the productive fabric of the affected areas, to ensure its prompt recovery.
The regulation includes measures in energy matters, of a tax nature, measures to support activities to promote international trade, to support industrial activity, in agricultural matters, in housing, in employment and Social Security, supply, sanitation and purification, in the educational and cultural field, health, among others.
Among these measures, the following measures to protect workers stand out:
New measures are approved to reinforce the protection of workers.
These measures extend the application of the ERTEs, which, after being activated due to force majeure, will be applied retroactively in all affected areas, for all companies and workers who, although not located in the affected municipalities, have seen their activity severely damaged by the DANA.
In addition, the temporary disability benefit is assimilated to that of work accidents, thus eliminating the requirement of a number of previous years of contributions to be able to access it.
In turn, a new extraordinary benefit is approved for self-employed workers that will allow them to combine their activity for 3 months with the receipt of an extraordinary benefit for partial cessation, which will be equivalent to 50% of their contribution base.
Paid and non-recoverable permits are contemplated, so that workers may be absent from work, with the right to remuneration, for any of the following reasons related to the DANA and while they last: impossibility of attending or accessing the workplace or performing the work; moving, cleaning or conditioning tasks of the habitual residence, and recovery of belongings and other personal effects; disappearance or death of family members; and attention to care duties derived from the DANA.
Priority is given to the provision of services through the remote work modality, as a preferred form of organization.
The extraordinary Mecuida Plan is also being set up, which allows for the adaptation or reduction of working hours to attend to care duties, thus protecting all workers who have to deal with care duties, including domestic workers.
Among the approved protection measures for workers, the dismissal of workers from companies that make use of direct aid or employment regulation files provided for on the occasion of the DANA is prohibited. If the dismissal occurs, it will be classified as null and void and the company must return the aid received. Likewise, it is guaranteed that the suspension of temporary contracts due to the DANA does not affect the maximum duration of said contracts or their reference periods.
For domestic workers, the consequences arising from the total or partial impossibility of providing services in the field of family household services are regulated, for which the right to contractual suspension and reduction of working hours is expressly recognised, the applicability of the special unemployment benefit scheme provided for cases of force majeure and the way to prove the cause of the event. No waiting period will be necessary, contribution periods will not be used up and the amount will be 70 percent of the regulatory base. With this measure, protection is extended to a vulnerable group and domestic workers are allowed to access unemployment benefits under conditions that fairly respond to the situation they are going through.
Likewise, an employment plan is planned for the hiring of unemployed people that will reach all autonomous communities with municipalities affected by the DANA. This plan involves an investment of 50,000,000 euros for the hiring of people in the agricultural sector with a double objective: on the one hand, to give an employment opportunity to people who are affected by the DANA makes it impossible for them to carry out work, and on the other hand, that they can help with their work in the reconstruction of the affected areas. Finally, with regard to social economy entities, the labor shield provided for cooperatives and their working and working partners is extended, provided that people who carry out their work in these entities can benefit from the measures included in this regulation on equal terms with the rest of the workers affected by the DANA.
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