Mobility

FIRST.— They’re moving you to another workplace, and it complicates your life a lot

Geographic mobility under Article 40 of the Workers’ Statute protects the worker when the change of workplace «requires a change of residence». But that doesn’t mean you literally have to move house: if the new workplace is so far away that it means several extra hours of travel every day, it can already be considered protected geographic mobility, even if you keep living in the same place.

If the change is nearby and doesn’t really harm you, it falls within the company’s normal organisational power, and there is less room to claim just because it’s inconvenient.

SECOND.— Functional mobility: when your tasks are changed

a) The company can move you from some duties to others within your own professional group without needing any special economic or organisational reason: it is part of its organisational power. But it must respect the qualifications required for the post and your dignity (Article 39 of the Workers’ Statute).
b) If you are assigned duties above those of your group, you are entitled to be paid the salary difference. If this lasts more than six months in a year, or more than eight months in two years, you can claim promotion, unless the collective agreement provides otherwise.
c) If you are assigned duties below those of your professional group, there must be technical or organisational reasons that justify it and it may only last for the time strictly necessary. The company must communicate the decision and its reasons to the workers’ representatives, and you keep your original salary.
d) If functional mobility goes beyond those limits, you can claim that your real category be respected and the corresponding salary difference, or —if the situation is serious enough— consider terminating your contract.

THIRD.— Individual or collective, they’re not the same

If the change affects you or a small group, it is individual mobility: the company notifies you with a minimum notice of 30 days, and you have a short period to challenge it if you disagree.

If it affects a whole workplace, or a large number of people at once, it is collective mobility: here the company is obliged to open a consultation period with the workers’ representatives before deciding anything.

FOURTH.— What the company has to do to transfer you

a) Justify the transfer with proven economic, technical, organisational or production reasons.
b) Notify you in writing, you and your representatives, at least 30 days in advance.
c) Pay you the expenses, yours and your family’s, that the transfer entails, as agreed or as provided by the collective agreement.

FIFTH.— Your options if you are transferred or your duties change

a) Accept the transfer, with the right to compensation for expenses.
b) Terminate your contract with compensation of 20 days’ pay per year of service, up to a maximum of twelve months’ pay.
c) Challenge the decision before the Labor Court, if you believe the company has no real justification or did not follow the procedure in Article 40. You have 20 working days, with urgent processing. If the judge declares it unjustified, you have the right to return to your original workplace.
d) In especially serious situations —for example, certain substantial modifications made without respecting the law that undermine your dignity, or if the company refuses to restore your previous conditions after a judgment declaring the transfer unjustified— you can ask the court to terminate the contract under Article 50 of the Workers’ Statute, with the compensation of an unfair dismissal.

SIXTH.— Temporary postings

If the company sends you to work in another town for a while, it is not always a transfer. It is a temporary posting, with other rules: they must pay your travel expenses and per diem, and give you sufficient notice (at least five working days if it lasts more than three months). For postings of more than three months, you are entitled to four working days at your home of origin for every three months of posting, not counting travel days, the cost of which the company pays. If postings exceed twelve months within a three-year period, they are treated as a transfer.

SEVENTH.— While you decide

The transfer is enforceable even if you challenge it: until there is a judgment, the company can require you to comply. If you stop going to work, you can be dismissed for unjustified absences. If what has been done to you is a change of hours, schedule or pay, see the page on changes to working conditions.