Friday, March 17, 2023, 00:20
The statements by the general secretary of the UGT, Pepe Álvarez, in favor of the rejection of a job offer entailing the loss of a benefit or public subsidy, and which he later qualified, has opened the debate on the right of the unemployed to refuse to accept any placement and the possible consequences of this decision. The response from other unions and from the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, was resounding. She ruled out the tightening of sanctions for these unemployed or recipients of the RGI.
In reality, and despite the controversy, Álvarez has not deviated much from what has already been established by the Public State Employment Service (SEPE). The union leader assured that, in his opinion, the withdrawal of the benefit or subsidy should be considered for those who reject a job offer “offering training and having qualities and qualifications to be able to perform it.” This allusion to the worker’s previous experience or preparation coincides with the SEPE guidelines, which marks as a serious sanction, and therefore causing the loss of the benefit, the rejection without just cause of an adequate job offer or a training course. Training that increases the chances of placement. Of course, this withdrawal of the benefit is not always definitive.
When a person commits a serious infraction, they are penalized with the loss of benefits for three months. If you are a repeat offender and commit a second serious offense (it does not have to be the rejection of a job offer) within 365 days, the new penalty will increase the period without receiving unemployment benefits to six months. Finally, if there is a third serious offense Without a year having elapsed from the previous one, the benefit would be terminated. These sanctions only have one exception: there is no sanction if the offer arrives during the first thirty days of collection of the contributory unemployment benefit, which should not be confused with the unemployment subsidy that in some cases is obtained once the period in which that it is up to us to collect unemployment according to what we have contributed.
Proper placement and good cause
These explanations leave two loose fringes: what is an adequate placement according to the SEPE and what is admitted as justified cause to decline that placement. The answer to the first question is simple; Appropriate placement is understood, first of all, those of the profession indicated by the holder of the benefit before the public employment services, which may or may not coincide with the one usually performed, which logically is also considered appropriate. For example, we may have graduated in a specific specialty, but have always worked in a sector that has nothing to do with our studies. In this case, both professions, that of the degree and the one actually exercised, are considered suitable placements. In addition, so are “other occupations that match their physical and educational aptitudes” and “the profession held last if it lasted at least three months.” However, the SEPE also warns that “if a benefit has been received for a year without interruption, Any profession that the public employment services deem appropriate will be considered suitable placement”.
On the other hand, to be adequate, the placement must also meet other requirements. In the first place, the salary cannot be less than the minimum interprofessional salary discounting travel expenses and it must also be adequate for the job offered, regardless of the amount of the benefit to which you are entitled. In addition, the duration of the work (indefinite or temporary) or of the day (full or part-time) will be taken into account.
Secondly, there is the difficulty in getting to the center of work. An offer is not considered adequate if, unless there is another alternative of “adequate accommodation”, the displacement from the place of residence represents at least 25% of the duration of the working day or implies spending 20% of the salary monthly.
Therefore, although the SEPE does not list the reasons why we can refuse a placement (it only emphasizes that “being studying or having minor children are not causes that justify the rejection of job offers or training courses”), it is understood that It can be done when the offer does not meet all the aforementioned requirements.
What about the RGI?
In the case of the Basque Income and Inclusion Guarantee System (RGI), the Law approved on December 22 establishes that the benefit will extinguish when the holder rejects “an offer of employment made by Lanbide-Basque Employment Service or by a collaborating entity, voluntary cessation of work activity and voluntary withdrawal from the job, unless there is a justifiable cause”. There is not, as there is with unemployment, the possibility of recidivism; a single rejection without reason means the loss of the RGI and the impossibility of reapplying for it for at least one year.
And what are in this case the reasons that allow you to refuse to accept a job? In the first place, the Law establishes that the refusal will be considered justified “when there is an impediment to its realization due to illness”. To this assumption is added the possibility that the offer does not coincide “with the preferences expressed” by the beneficiary of the benefit or does not correspond “with the profession developed in the last year, the training proposed by the employment guidance service of Lanbide-Basque Employment Service or with their physical and training aptitudes.
Finally, similar to what happens in the SEPE, rejection is also allowed when the salary is not adequate because it is not equivalent to that of the job offered (according to the company agreement or the sectoral agreement that is applicable), the daily travel time by public transport to attend the training exceeds 25% of the daily work day or involves an expense of more than 20% of the monthly salary.
In addition, it must be qualified that the rejection of an offer or the voluntary cessation of work activity will also be understood as justified when it is not compatible with the care of persons under fourteen years of age (or with disabilities) or relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity that cannot fend for themselves. In the same way, it must be clarified that even if a holder loses his RGI due to refusing a job, the Law guarantees the protection of minors in his charge, so The suspension will exclusively affect the individual supplement corresponding to the holder.