The Phone House agrees to reduce to "a maximum" of 200 workers the number of layoffs from your ERE in Spain

The compensation will be 27 days per year worked with a maximum of 17 monthly payments and a maximum of 45,000 euros.

July 21 () –

The Phone House (whose parent company is Global Dominion) will lay off “a maximum” of 200 people in Spain after the final agreement reached with the union representation, so that in the negotiations it has been possible to reduce the number of contract terminations initially raised by the company (304), as reported by UGT union sources to Europa Press.

Specifically, the agreement, reached this Thursday afternoon and whose negotiation “has been tough” and with “marathon meetings”, according to the sources consulted, contemplates compensation equivalent to 27 days of compensation per year worked with a maximum of 17 monthly installments and a maximum amount of 45,000 euros.

“The implementation of the extinctive measure will be carried out within the period from July 31, 2023 (inclusive), until October 31, 2023”, indicates the document agreed by the parties, which also contemplates that the company will “commits” not to carry out any other collective dismissal until at least December 31 of this year.

In this way, the conditions of the final agreement for this employment regulation file (ERE) are similar -although they are lower- to those applied in the previous collective dismissal carried out by the company in Spain in November 2020 and which affected to 435 people.

On that occasion, the agreement was closed with compensation of 30 days per year of service with a maximum of 17 monthly payments and a maximum amount of 48,000 euros.

MEASURES TO REDUCE LAYOFFS

As for the measures adopted to reduce the number of layoffs to “a maximum of 200” in the company’s 67 work centers in Spain, different aspects are contemplated, such as six stores becoming a franchise.

In addition, during the next 6 months, the workers affected by the ERE who, collectively or individually, are interested in opting for the operation of a The Phone House brand business under a franchise regime “and meet the company’s criteria for this business class” will benefit from an “improvement over the standard conditions required of third parties”.

Likewise, “certain stores initially affected will be maintained to see if they can overcome the situation for a period of time”, although it is not detailed in the document.

To all this are added other measures, such as the modification of the work shifts of the warehouse of the Coslada work center and of the warehouse and technical service from September 1, among other issues.

PREGNANT WOMEN WILL NOT BE FIRED BEFORE JUNE 6

“The definitive list of workers affected by the extinction measure will be drawn up once they have exercised their respective rights of voluntary assignment to the measures of extinction of labor relations based on the established criteria,” the agreement indicates.

In this sense, pregnant women who have communicated this circumstance to the company “prior to the date of communication by the company of the intention to initiate a termination procedure of a collective nature” will be excluded from the ERE, that is, before June 6 of 2023.

The people affected by a situation of gender violence “accredited by judicial resolution” will not be included in the ERE, nor will the workers who are in charge of and live with a disabled person and whose condition is “legally accredited”.

In the case of employees who are married or are formally a common-law partner and both members of the couple are affected by the ERE, the measure will only affect one of them, “provided that their job position is not amortizable”.

REPLACEMENT AND OVER 55 YEARS

On the other hand, the workers who, on the date of termination of their labor relationship derived from this ERE, are 55 years of age or older and who did not have the status of mutual members on January 1, 1967, the company “undertakes to subscribe and pay the quotas destined to the financing of a special agreement” until they reach 61 years of age.

Likewise, the agreement contemplates that the employees affected by the ERE who, once the contract was terminated, were in a legal situation of unemployment, will have the right to participate in an external relocation plan that the company has signed with Randstad with continuous attention for a minimum period of 6 months.

“In order to ensure full compliance with this agreement, a joint monitoring commission will be created from the date of signing it, which will be in force until December 31, 2023 and will be made up of three members appointed by the social party. (…) and the three designated by the business side, accompanied by one and the other of the legal advisors they deem appropriate,” the document added.