During the trial period of a work contract both employer and employee have the right to terminate the contract without having to give a reason, notice, or indemnisation. Just to be clear, not every contract has a trial period. If there is no trial period mentioned in the contract then there is none. The length of a trial period depends on the kind of contract and the position of an employee in the company and other factors.
The termination has to be communicated in a certain way to be valid.
Valid for both parties:
- The decision to terminate the contract has to be communicated in writing
- No notice necessary, you can notify or be notified on your final working day.
- Not necessary to include the reason why
Formalities for termination by employer:
- Letter must be in duplicate
- If the employee does not want to pick up the letter (at place of work) or is not there because of illness or whatever other reason, the letter must be sent by burofax
- Letter must contain complete name and DNI/NIE of the employee plus direction and CIF of the employer, the date on which it is given or delivered, stipulate clearly what is going to be the last working day
- Letter must indicate “finaliza la relación laboral por no superar el periodo de prueba”. Should not contain anything like “despido”, “extinción de la relación laboral” o “baja voluntaria¨
- Letter should state that it is accompanied by the ´finiquito´ (settlement) or that a finiquito is made available otherwise
- The finiquito should contain all days worked during the trial period and be made payable on the final workday
- Employer should send corresponding ´certificado de empresa´ electronically to INEM/SEPE
Formalities for termination by employee:
- All of the above, but of course the letter should contain a request to receive ´finiquito´
The effects of termination of trial period by employee are the same as a ´voluntary dismissal´ so no entitlement to indemnisation and no right to unemployment benefits as you won´t be in a legal situation of unemployment either way. The only difference is that with the termination of a trial period you do not have to give notice while with a voluntary dismissal you do, or if you don´t, your employer is entitled to deduct any not-honoured notice days from your finiquito.
If your employer does not pay the wages due, or not on time, please consult THIS INFO FILE from our Library on what to do.
More info and examples of termination letters below:
THIS LINK
Please note: The information provided is based upon our understanding of current legislation. It is not legal advice but is provided freely to enable you to be properly informed. We recommend that if you are considering taking action, you should seek professional advice.
How Can Citizens Advice Bureau Spain Benefit You?
As an expatriate living in Spain; do you find that the Spanish bureaucratic system
can be disconcerting? Have you discovered that the simplest of transactions are difficult to conclude?
Find yourself searching for answers to problems only to discover that there is nowhere where you could find a solution?
I am assuming that the answer is yes and that is why should be a member of our web site if you arent already.
