The Spanish government has approved a draft bill which aims to give interns more rights and ensure companies are not hiring trainees to do the job of an employee, with Spain’s Labour Minister saying the days of interns “just making coffee” are over.
The Spanish Cabinet has approved a new draft law of the ‘Intern Statute’, which has been in the works since 2023.
The law aims to protect the rights of young people working in internships in Spain as well as limiting the number of interns companies can have, based on their size.
However, the draft bill applies to unpaid interns, meaning that the legislation will not guarantee that becarios (interns in Spanish) get paid for their work.
Initially when it was presented in 2023, the law was rejected by employers, university rectors, and even members of the government at the time.
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Now this preliminary draft has been approved after the Ministry of Labour has made several changes.
The two most significant changes it proposes are to half the maximum time of extracurricular internships to 480 hours and to compensate students who don’t receive a salary. This means companies will have to cover travel and living expenses for example.
It also seeks to combat the practice of ‘fake interns’, who should really be employed as workers instead.
The Minister of Labour, Yolanda Díaz, in a recent press conference explained that internships that consist of “making coffee and photocopies” are over. “From now on, people in training will have rights,” she added.
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During the press conference she also read out several offers for ‘internships’ currently being advertised in Spain.
One was for a young person wanted to work 12 hours in exchange for free coffee and have “a collaborative team spirit”, but there was no mention of any payment.
Another was for a worker needed to work in a dynamic position in a good office, yet it specifically stated that “no salary was available”.
The new law increases current penalties for employers who break the rules and prohibits interns from working outside of regular hours.
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The main points of the draft law are:
- It will be expressly prohibited for interns to pay companies for training
- Segregation in companies is not allowed – interns can no longer be prohibited from entering rest rooms, breastfeeding rooms, cafeterias, etc.
- Trainees must have a comprehensive training plan and a person responsible for that training
- There will be several limitations regarding work shifts, which will be protected by all the rules of International Labour Standards Convention 190
- Companies will have to cover the expenses students incur during their internships
With regards to putting a stop to fake internships, the law states that “an employment relationship will be presumed to exist when the activity carried out replaces the functions of an employee or when there is no direct link between the activity and the curriculum to which the internship is associated”.
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The draft also recognises interns’ right to take breaks, not to work on public holidays, and take vacation days.
Both public and private institutions can be fined if they violate these rules and penalties can reach more than €225,000.
The draft bill is expected to return to the cabinet meeting in a few months for a second approval after comments and amendments.
The Ministry of Labour has not specified when this second approval might occur, but even if it does the text will also need to be sent to the Congress of Deputies to pass there too.
Internships, or prácticas as they’re called in Spanish, are very popular in Spain and are often integrated into educational courses or are necessary in order to get a certain qualification.
This does mean, however, that many Spanish employers have a tendency to exploit becarios, making them complete tasks such as making coffee or filing papers, which have nothing to do with their professional training.
It’s also very common for interns to be forced to work long hours without any compensation.
