Dismissals in hospitality: end of season, business transfer and real cost
Nextica Law & Tax handles terminations in bars, restaurants and hotels with the Catalan hospitality agreement in hand: choosing the route —objective, disciplinary or the end of a permanent-seasonal call-up—, calculating severance using real supplements and seniority, a dismissal letter with concrete facts and dates, and the transfer of staff when the premises change hands, which is the sector's most frequent transaction.
In hospitality the severance is almost never what the calculator says: the agreement's supplements and the seniority carried over from past seasons change it.
What's included
1. Distinguishing beforehand between terminating a contract and not calling back a permanent-seasonal employee, which are different things handled differently.
2. Choosing the route in light of the real cause
disciplinary, objective, end of call-up, or failure to pass the probationary period.
3. Building the file where the cause is disciplinary, with the record of breaches compiled during the relationship and not afterwards.
4. Calculating severance and the final settlement with the hospitality agreement in front of you: consolidated allowances, public holidays, tips excluded, and length of service across the whole relationship.
5. Communicating at the point in the service that does least damage, with floor or kitchen cover arranged.
6. Analysing whether the premises are being handed over
if the going concern goes with them, the business transfer rule applies and the staff continue with the acquirer.
7. Defence at conciliation and before the employment tribunal, with the file closed before anything is announced.
NOT CALLING BACK IS NOT DISMISSING, BUT IT LOOKS THE SAME WITHOUT PAPERWORK
In a seasonal business most terminations are not dismissals: they are call-ups that never happened or were not done properly.
Failing to call back a permanent-seasonal employee without following the agreement's form and order: it is treated as a dismissal, with length of service across the whole relationship and not just the last season.
Catalan hospitality agreementA disciplinary letter written after the decision to dismiss
the record of breaches is built during the relationship, and a file assembled in two days evidences nothing. In a high-turnover sector that documentation almost never exists.
art. 55.1 Workers' StatuteHanding over the premises assuming the staff do not go with them
if what changes hands is the going concern with its organised resources, the acquirer takes over contracts, length of service and debts, and both parties are jointly liable for the statutory period.
art. 44 Workers' StatuteTYPES OF TERMINATION IN SPAIN — WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The wrong choice of dismissal type is the most expensive mistake a company can make. Each modality has its own causes, formal requirements, and consequences:
| Type of dismissal | Legal cause | Compensation due | Notice | If declared inadmissible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disciplinary (art. 54 ET) | Serious and culpable breach: absenteeism, indiscipline, offenses, breach of good faith, voluntary decrease in performance | 0 € if it is applicable | Not required | 33 days/year · max. 24 monthly payments |
| Objective (art. 52 ET) | Documented economic, technical, organizational or production causes | 20 days/year · max. 12 monthly payments | 15 days | 33 days/year · max. 24 monthly installments |
| ERE Collective (art. 51 ET) | Economic, technical, organizational or production causes · minimum numerical threshold according to template | 20 days/year · max. 12 monthly payments | 30 days | 33 days/year · max. 24 monthly payments |
| Null (arts. 53.4 and 55.5 ET) | Violation of fundamental rights: pregnancy, motherhood, union position, discrimination | Mandatory reinstatement + processing wages from dismissal to reinstatement | — | — |
Disciplinary (art. 54 ET)
Objective (art. 52 ET)
ERE Collective (art. 51 ET)
Null (arts. 53.4 and 55.5 ET)
Frequently asked questions
I am selling the restaurant. Can I dismiss staff before handing it over?
Dismissing in order to hand over empty premises is exactly what business succession prevents. If what is transferred is a going business —premises, licence, clientele, equipment— the staff pass to the new owner with their seniority and conditions, and both parties are liable for outstanding employment debts. What you can do is structure and document the transaction properly, including the duty to inform the employees.
The season ends and I do not call back a permanent-seasonal employee. Is that a dismissal?
It can be. A permanent-seasonal contract does not end when the season does: the employee waits for the next call-up, which must follow the order and form set by the collective agreement. Failing to call someone whose turn it was, or skipping the order, is treated as a dismissal and can be challenged as such. That is why each season's call-up is documented, even if only briefly in writing.
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