Legal uncertainty is standing in the way of remote working

The pandemic led to more importance being given to the concept of remote working. According to figures from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics, during Spain's state of emergency over half of all employers in the country allowed their staff to work remotely, and 46.7% of these employees took up the offer. However, current data show that less than 8% of employees currently work remotely, which means that, four years on, this means of working is far from reaching its full potential.

"Despite the positive experience of most people who teleworked during the pandemic, this way of working has not been widely implemented," said Irene Rovira Ferrer, a researcher at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). In fact, remote working can also benefit employers, and the UN considers it an important tool in the pursuit of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

This is the premise behind Encouraging employers and mitigating legal uncertainty: two key factors in the consolidation of remote work, a research study led by Rovira, who is attached to the UOC's Taxation, Labour Relations and Business (TAXBUSINESS) group and is also a professor of Financial and Tax Law at the same university's Faculty of Law and Political Science.

The study seeks to provide actual and relevant knowledge to inform public policy by identifying and analysing the main reasons behind employers' reluctance to allow remote working and the legal uncertainty arising from this practice, both of which are key to its consolidation.

The study is part of the coordinated research project The necessary consolidation of remote working: opportunities, challenges and proposals, carried out with funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and coordinated by the UOC professor, which also includes the study Non-discrimination, well-being at the workplace and teleworking by foreign staff: three key components for the consolidation of teleworking, led by Fernando Camas, director of the Chair of Immigration, Rights and Citizenship at the University of Girona.

The importance of making remote working a standard practice

"Consolidating teleworking is beneficial to all the parties involved: employers, employees and even the government. Studies have shown that it benefits employers financially and in terms of profit. Furthermore, employees generally consider it a positive experience, and it helps the government make progress in the aim of complying with the 2030 Agenda," said Rovira.

"For example, in this increasingly independent, complex and globalized world, the absence of physical barriers inherent to teleworking clearly leads to more opportunities to find decent quality work regardless of a person's location, as well as reducing employers' costs and greatly increasing their ability to recruit talent," said the UOC professor in relation to SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth.

"Teleworking reduces travel, which in turn has a positive impact on both the planet and employees' work-life balance, as well as leading to a more equal distribution of housework," she said, mentioning SDG 13, Climate Action and SDG 5, Gender Equality.

It also has an impact on SDG 3, Good Health and Well-Being, by reducing travel time, and SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities, by fostering the social and workplace inclusion of people with disabilities and helping repopulate small towns and villages.

The challenges: the case of Spain

As a result of her previous research in Spain, the results of which were published in the monograph The taxation of teleworking, Professor Rovira became aware that consolidating the practice of teleworking in Spain requires the eradication of two key factors: employers' reluctance to offer this option and the legal uncertainty resulting from current regulations, "due to both its unprecedented characteristics and the consequences of some of the standalone regulations that have been put in place, especially Law 10/2021 of 9 July on teleworking", said the researcher. Rovira has been selected for one of the 22 scientific positions to advise the Spanish ministries on the decisions they make with the new Spanish National Scientific Advisory Office.

In view of this, the research team is currently trying to identify the primary reasons for employers' failure to offer teleworking. They believe that the main obstacle is posed by the obligations arising from Articles 11 and 12 of the Law on teleworking.

Specifically, these provisions place employers under a "duty to provide the necessary tools, means and equipment to do the job remotely and to compensate employees for the direct and indirect expenses incurred by them in connection with this working method", said Rovira. Dealing with these resources and expenses "can not only be complicated but can also have consequences on tax and even social security contributions", she said.

As well as providing relevant knowledge to inform public policy, the research project aims to create guides that can be used as a protocol to help employers fulfil their obligations in the best and most practical way possible by providing the necessary knowledge to identify, clarify and analyse the legal impact of international teleworking.

Another aim of the research led by Irene Rovira is to make regulatory reform proposals for the proper implementation of this way of working. "With a particular focus on guaranteeing respect for both employers' and employees' rights and well-being and ensuring that the resulting obligations are sustainable and global tax justice is upheld," she said.

“We hope that our research will provide relevant information to develop policies that help consolidate remote working and proposals for regulatory changes to ensure it is properly regulated," said the UOC professor.

This research supports UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 3, Good Health and Well-being, and SDG 5, Gender Equality. It also supports SDG 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth, and SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities. And it has an impact on SDG 13, Climate Action.

Project PID2023-146204OB-C21, funded by MCIU / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033 / ERDF, EU

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