Madrid (EFE).- The second vice president and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, has signed with the general secretaries of CCOO, Unai Sordo, and UGT, Pepe Álvarez, the agreement for the statute of people in practical training non-labor in companies, the so-called scholarship holders’ statute.
In the act of signing the agreement, from which the CEOE has withdrawn, the CCOO and UGT have called on the political parties to support an agreement that seeks to end precarious practices.
The Council of Ministers must now approve the norm that will have to be validated by the permanent deputation of Congress, given that the plenary session is dissolved before the call for the next general elections.
Right to compensation, vacations and sanctions to companies, keys to the scholarship holder’s statute
The statute establishes, among other aspects, compensation for the expenses of internship students, the right to vacations and sets fines for companies that fail to comply.
The text, sealed this Thursday with the unions since the CEOE employers have withdrawn from it, regulates the practices of Vocational Training, those of artistic and sports education, those linked to training specialties of the national employment system and the external academic practices of universities, both curricular and extracurricular.
These are some of the keys to the new scholarship holder’s statute, which must now be approved by the Council of Ministers and validate the permanent deputation of Congress since the plenary session is dissolved before the next general elections are called:
Right to compensation of expenses
The scholarship holders will be entitled to compensation “for a minimum amount to compensate all those that the person in practical training incurs as a result of this”, such as the cost of travel, accommodation or maintenance, although the company will not be obliged “if there are other scholarships or grants that cover them”.
In addition, if the company makes the necessary services available and which are the ones that cause such expenses to be incurred, the compensation “shall be understood to be compensated”, the same as when the practices already have a sufficient economic allocation by itself or together with other scholarships. or help.
That is to say, the Statute does not oblige companies to pay a salary to the interns, but it does require that the internships are not an expense for the students, hence it also prohibits that access to these involves the payment of an amount by of the students.
Right to enjoy vacations and holidays
The new text establishes that the training will respect “the limits and breaks, including holidays and vacations, set out in the legal regulations and collective agreements that are applicable” to the rest of the company’s workers.
In addition, in general, “training activities may not be carried out at night or in shifts” and the company must guarantee the compatibility of the practices with the rest of the student’s training activity.
Compatibility with unemployment benefit and subsidy
The norm states that unemployment benefits and subsidies “will be compatible with the inclusion in the Social Security system of students who carry out training practices”.
Also, as of October 1, it will be mandatory for students in practices to contribute to Social Security, something contemplated in the last section of the reform of the pension system approved in March.
limitation of hours
The statute establishes a limitation of hours both in the external academic practices of the universities, whether these are curricular or extracurricular.
Thus, in the curricula developed during the official undergraduate studies, master’s doctorates may not exceed 25% of the hours of the degree; in the case of a degree of 240 ECTS credits, which totals 6,000 hours, the limit will be 1,500 hours.
For extracurricular internships of the same university studies, the limit is 15%, so they may not exceed 480 hours.
Students may not exceed 20% of the staff
The new text establishes that “the number of people undergoing practical training may not exceed 20% of the workplace workforce”, although any company may have two people undergoing training “regardless of the number of people on the workforce”.
Each tutor may have a maximum of five people in training.
Fines may exceed 200,000 euros
The scholarship holder’s statute incorporates a sanctioning regime that penalizes non-compliance with fines ranging from 70 euros to 225,018 euros, and entrusts the monitoring of the conditions of internship students to the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate (ITSS).