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26-01-2021

What options does the company have to contain the mobility of its workers between March 30 and April 9?

The Directorate General of Labor, in a non-binding interpretative criterion in relation to RDL 10/2020, recalls the measures that companies can adopt to ensure the restriction of workers’ movements during the period of confinement between March 30 and April 9.

Mobility containment measures

The DGTr has issued a non-binding interpretative criterion in relation to RDL 10/2020, which regulates recoverable paid leave. It points out that during the period of interruption of activities from March 30 to April 9, companies may adopt any of the following measures, provided that the legal regime provided for is respected and allows limiting labor mobility as much as possible:

Suspension of the contract due to force majeure based directly on loss of activity as a result of COVID-19.

Suspension measures that have already been authorized shall continue to be applied under the terms in which they were approved, provided that they ensure the restriction of the movement of the workforce.

Those that may be authorized and that are based exclusively on the stoppage and interruption of activities between March 30 and April 9, have a limited duration until April 9.

2. Suspension of the contract for technical, organizational, productive or economic reasons. If the activity has already been suspended, it is understood that they respond adequately to the purpose of the containment during the period between March 30 and April 9.

Also during this period new ERTEs of suspension can be approved for these causes, but their processing could prevent the paralysis or reduction of workers’ mobility with sufficient agility and speed, so this issue will have to be addressed through other alternative means.

The reduction of the working day due to force majeure or due to economic, technical, organizational or production causes, provided that it is combined with any of the following measures with respect to the part of the working day not affected by the reduction:

  • suspension of the contract due to force majeure or economic, technical, organizational or production causes;
  • teleworking or non-face-to-face forms of service provision;
  • recoverable paid leave.



  1. Any other cause for suspension of the contract (ET art.45.1): mutual agreement of the parties; causes validly consigned in the contract; IT, leaves for birth and care of children, suspensions due to economic, technical, organizational or production causes other than COVID-19, exercise of representative public office; deprivation of liberty of the worker, while there is no conviction; suspension of employment and salary, for disciplinary reasons; forced leave; strike; abandonment of job of a victim of gender violence.

In these cases, no additional measures are necessary.

5. Teleworking or other non-face-to-face forms of service provision;


6. Other internal flexibility measures or irregular distribution of up to 10% of the annual working day or percentage established by agreement (ET art.34.2).

7. Recoverable paid leave as an exclusive measure or in combination with the above measures for part or all of the workforce. This measure cannot be applied to workers affected by suspension ETEs, but it can be applied to the rest of the unaffected workforce.

The DGTr concludes that in order to guarantee the extension of the confinement, companies may adopt any measures that adequately and sufficiently satisfy the restriction of workers’ movements, provided that the circumstances and legal limitations and requirements foreseen in each case are met. In any case, if it is not possible to apply such measures or they are insufficient, and with respect to non-essential activities, the recoverable paid leave must be applied.


In order to urgently control compliance with the mandatory paid leave, the ITSS will check, based on complaints filed, among others, the following issues (ITSS Instruction 2/2020):

  • companies that do not allow paid leave and order their employees to continue their business activity;
  • companies which, while granting leave to part of the workforce, maintain their activity beyond what is “indispensable”;
  • companies that have unfoundedly claimed the impossibility of immediately ceasing the activity, and work during March 30;
  • companies that extend beyond March 30, 2020 the tasks necessary to carry out the cessation of activity;
  • start of transport services after March 30, 2020.