Yolanda Díaz’s proposal to provide interns with the same rights as other workers is causing many headaches for the Government. The intention is to create a new Internship Statute that regulates and limits the activity of workers in training in companies and thus eliminate “false interns”.
[Minimum salary, payment of expenses and vacations: this is how the Government wants to shield interns]
The Minister of Labor and her team are now working on a draft that will help protect the half million young people who find themselves in this uncontrolled employment situation. These new rights that are intended to be guaranteed to interns will mean an enormous change for the companies that train young workers.
This Scholarship Statute, to which ABC had access a few weeks ago, includes numerous new features that, if they follow what is stipulated by Díaz, could come into force as of 2023. This is what will change in the contracts of employees in training:
During the internship period that an intern performs in the company, it will be mandatory that he be supervised by a tutor appointed by the company itself. This must generate an individual training plan for the student, which will include the duration of the training and its schedules.
In addition, this training may be carried out remotely, without exceeding 50% of the planned duration and it will be necessary for the tutor to carry out these tasks within his working day.
When these internships are not remunerated, the company must compensate the expenses during the training activities according to the agreement. This amount must be sufficient to cover the travel and maintenance costs of the worker in training.
Although this text does not yet include payment quantification, CC.OO. figure this payment at 50% of the Iprem, which comes to about 289.51 euros.
The working hours of interns must also respect the limits and breaks established in the legal regulations of the company, including holidays and vacations. These may not be carried out, in general, at night or in shifts, unless they cannot do so in other periods.
In addition, the training activity cannot be carried out once the day and the hours contemplated in the training plan have passed.
Young workers may be absent from their workplace to attend the doctor. They may also interrupt the internship period for the reasons stated in the collaboration agreement and by agreement between the person undergoing practical training, the company and the training centre.
The Ministry of Labor also proposes limiting the maximum number of interns that a company can hire based on its size.
In this way, in companies with between 1 and 10 workers, only one may be in training; in companies with 11 to 30 people, two, and in companies with between 31 and 59 people, only three. In companies with more than 60 workers, no more than 5% of the workforce may be interns.
In addition, no tutor assigned by the company may have more than five training workers assigned.
Díaz’s intention will also be to balance the presence of men and women among the interns of a company. In this way, in those departments where there is a much lower number of one of these genders, it will be necessary to increase representation.
Another of the most significant changes that this new measure by Yolanda Díaz will implement will be to prohibit payment for training. Thus, it will not be possible to demand an economic consideration to access a job in training.
