Force majeure and the causes of contract suspension derived from COVID-19 shall not be understood as justification for dismissal.

Royal Decree-Law 9/2020 is published, which includes a series of measures complementary to Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, which regulates the processing of applications for unemployment benefits, the control of ERTE or the interruption of the calculation of temporary contracts.

Royal Decree-Law 9/2020, of March 27, which adopts complementary labor measures to mitigate the effects derived from COVID-19, includes, among others, the following labor measures:

• Extraordinary measures for the protection of employment: Force majeure and the economic, technical, organizational and production causes that are the basis for the ERTEs provided for in Articles 22 and 23 of Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, derived from COVID-19, may not be understood as justifying the termination of the employment contract or dismissal.
• Measures to expedite the processing and payment of unemployment benefits: The procedure for the recognition of contributory unemployment benefits in ERTEs derived from COVID-19 will be initiated through a collective application filed by the company.
• Interruption of the calculation of the maximum duration of temporary contracts: The suspension of temporary contracts, including training, relief and interim contracts, due to the causes of the ERTE derived from COVID-19 will imply the interruption of the calculation of the duration of these contracts, as well as of the reference periods equivalent to the suspended period.
• Limitation of the duration of the ERTE derived from COVID-19 due to force majeure: It may not be extended beyond the period in which the extraordinary situation derived from COVID-19 is maintained, being understood, therefore, that its maximum duration will be that of the state of alarm decreed by Royal Decree 463/2020 and its possible extensions (both in the event of express resolution and administrative silence and regardless of the content of the specific business request).

Penalty regime and reimbursement of undue benefits: The applications submitted by the company that contain falsehoods or inaccuracies will be penalized, as well as conduct consisting of requesting measures, in relation to employment, that were not necessary or did not have a sufficient connection with the cause that originates them and that give rise to the generation or receipt of undue benefits. The undue recognition of benefits to the worker for reasons not attributable to the same, as a consequence of any of the above breaches, will give rise to the ex officio review of the act of recognition of such benefits.

In such cases, and without prejudice to the administrative or criminal liability that legally corresponds, the company must pay to the management entity the amounts received by the worker, deducting them from the wages not received that would have corresponded, up to the limit of the sum of such wages.

When the entity managing unemployment benefits appreciates indications of fraud in obtaining unemployment benefits, it will notify the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate, which, for its part, will include, among its action plans, the verification of the existence of the causes alleged in the applications and communications of temporary employment regulation proceedings based on the COVID-19.

• Validity: The regulation enters into force on the same day of its publication in the BOE and remains in force during the state of alarm and its possible extensions.