Equality plans in companies

Law 3/2007, for the effective equality of women and men, established the obligation to elaborate and implement an equality plan in companies. In this sense and under the provisions of Decree 6/2019, next March 6 is the deadline for the implementation of equality plans in companies with more than 250 workers.In order to develop an Equality Plan, it is necessary to know what it is and how it should be implemented. Thus, an Equality Plan is an ordered set of equality measures and positive actions that seeks to integrate the principle of equality between women and men in the company, being the first of the phases for its correct elaboration, the negotiation and communication to the employees of the will to implement an Equality Plan and the realization of a previous diagnosis of the company to be able to know the state in which it is.once the negotiation is concluded and the previous diagnosis is made, it is important that the company and all the employees also know, which are the objectives that they want to achieve with the implementation of the Equality Plan. As an example, some of the objectives that should be common to all Equality Plans are: to contribute to equality between men and women in the work environment, both in treatment and opportunities, to guarantee equal salaries for women and men, to favor the conciliation of work, family and personal life, especially in positions with predominance of the female sex, etc.Taking into account the objectives set in the Equality Plan, it should be prepared by proposing and agreeing on active measures that facilitate the application of the principle of equality in all aspects derived from the company and related to the employees. However, it should also be taken into account what is the minimum content required by the regulations for an Equality Plan to be registered. Thus, an Equality Plan must refer to recruitment and selection of personnel, training of workers, professional classification and categorization, working conditions, female representation in the company, reconciliation of work, personal and family life and prevention of gender-based harassment.the next phase will be the registration of the Equality Plan in the Equality Plans Register, which is part of the registers of collective bargaining agreements and collective labor agreements under the General Labor Directorate. After its inscription, it will be necessary to wait for the Labor Authority to order its deposit, inscription and publication in the Official Bulletin of the State or of the Autonomous Community, to begin the phase of implementation in the company.from Tourism & Law, we offer advice in the implementation of Equality Plans in order to offer our clients, tranquility and prevention in labor matters.

Rosario Saldarriaga (Lawyer T&L)