By Nieves Rabassó, Lawyer, Economist and Head of the Labor Law Department

On March 7, 2022, the deadline for companies with more than fifty workers to present their Equality Plan expires, the genesis of which is found in Organic Law 3/2007, of March 22, for the effective equality of women and men. , and which defines the Equality Plan as “an ordered set of measures, adopted after carrying out a diagnosis of the situation, aimed at achieving equal treatment and opportunities between women and men and eliminating discrimination based on sex.”

This means that the measures included in the Equality Plan will be intended to respond to the needs arising from the diagnosis of the situation and to resolve the problems detected therein, and the equality objectives to be achieved, the strategies and practices to adopt, as well as effective systems for monitoring and evaluating the set objectives.

Royal Decree-Law 6/2019 on urgent measures to guarantee equal treatment and opportunities between women and men in employment and occupation, which modifies Organic Law 3/2007, already sets out the creation of “a Registry of Company Equality Plans” establishing the obligation to prepare and register equality plans based on the number of workers in each company, and beginning the calculation for their registration as of March 8, 2020:

Companies with more than 150 workers and up to 250 have a period of one year, that is, until March 7, 2020.

Companies with more than 100 workers and up to 150 have a two-year term, that is, until March 7, 2021.

Companies with more than 50 workers and up to 100 have a three-year period, that is, until March 7, 2022.

We must highlight that the Equality Plans must contain a diagnosis of the situation related to the following matters:

Selection and hiring process; Professional classification; Training; Professional promotion; Working conditions, including salary audit between women and men; Co-responsible exercise of the rights of personal, family and work life; Female under-representation; Sexual and sexual harassment protocol reason of sex. Remuneration audit

For its part, Royal Decree 901/2020, of October 13, which regulates equality plans and their registration - which is developed by RDLey 6/2019 -, already contemplates the case of preparing equality plans in the In the case of companies with 50 or more workers, or when the workforce is smaller as established in the applicable collective agreement or when the labor authority has agreed in a sanctioning procedure, they must prepare and apply an equality plan. For other companies it will be voluntary, after consulting the legal representation of the workers. The companies of a group of companies may develop a single plan for all or part of the companies in the group if this is agreed upon by those who are authorized to negotiate them. In this case, the group equality plan must take into account the activity of each of the companies, with the applicable collective agreements, including the information on the diagnoses of each of them.

We must highlight that, under the Public Sector Contracts Law, companies that do not have an equality plan or that do not comply with it, will not be able to contract with the Public Administration, regardless of the number of workers the company has.

RD Law 901/2020, of October 13, establishes the minimum content of the Equality Plans, determined by the following structure:

a) Determination of the parties that negotiate them

b) Personal, territorial and temporal scope.

c) Report on the diagnosis of the company's situation, or a diagnosis report on each of the companies in the group.

d) Definition of qualitative and quantitative objectives of the equality plan.

e) Description of specific measures, their execution period and prioritization, as well as the design of indicators that allow the evolution of each measure to be determined.

f) Identification of the means and resources, both material and human, necessary for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of each of the measures and objectives.

g) Calendar of actions for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the equality plan measures.

h) Monitoring, evaluation and periodic review system.

i) Composition and operation of the commission or joint body in charge of monitoring, evaluating and periodically reviewing equality plans.

k) Modification procedure, including procedures that serve to overcome discrepancies that exist in its evaluation, monitoring, application or review of the plan.

It may also contain the necessary measures based on the diagnostic result such as gender violence, non-sexist language and communication, etc.

The measures contained in the Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order (LISOS) are toughened, with the failure to prepare an Equality Plan constituting a very serious infraction, as established in art. 8.17 of the same, and may be sanctioned with a fine of €7,501.-€ to €225,018.-€, in accordance with the provisions of art. 40.1 c) of the aforementioned standard.

Furthermore, failure to comply with said legal obligation could be accompanied by the following accessory sanctions:

1.- Automatic loss of aid, bonuses and, in general, benefits derived from the application of employment programs, with effect from the date on which the infraction was committed.

2.- Automatic exclusion from access to such benefits for six months.

It will, therefore, be advisable for all companies to have their equality plans registered not only to know the diagnosis of their company's situation, but to comply with current legislation.

If your company is in the situation of not having registered an equality plan, do not hesitate to contact us. We accompany you throughout the entire process.