The recent justice reform has introduced an important change to Article 82.5 of the Labour Jurisdiction Act that has a significant impact on employment lawyer strategy.
- Evidence must now be submitted ten days before the hearing, which eliminates the element of surprise that came with disclosing documents in the courtroom and fundamentally changes how an employment lawyer approaches a case.
- The judge will not admit evidence if it has not been disclosed to the other party or if documentary evidence has not been submitted at least 10 days in advance.
Text of Article 82.5 of the Labour Jurisdiction Act:
5. The hearing summons shall also require the prior disclosure between the parties, or early submission at least ten days before the hearing, of any documentary or expert evidence they intend to rely on. Evidence must be submitted in electronic format, unless the party is not required to communicate electronically with the Administration of Justice, in which case submission on paper or other non-digital formats will be accepted.
Once this deadline has passed, documentary evidence, expert reports, means or instruments relating to the substance of the matter shall only be admitted from the claimant or defendant in the following circumstances:
1. Where the evidence post-dates the deadline, provided that it could not have been prepared or obtained prior to that procedural stage.
2. Where the documents, means or instruments pre-date the deadline, but the party submitting them demonstrates that they had no prior knowledge of their existence.
3. Where it was not possible to obtain the documentary evidence or expert report beforehand for reasons not attributable to the party, provided that the relevant archive, protocol, location, register, record book, proceedings or file from which a certificate or notice was to be obtained had been designated within the applicable time limit.
Where a document, means or instrument relating to the substance of the matter is submitted after the deadline set out in this provision, the other parties may argue at the hearing that it should not be taken into consideration, on the grounds that none of the above circumstances apply. The court shall rule on the matter immediately and, if it finds that the submission was made with dilatory intent or in bad faith, it may additionally impose a fine on the responsible party within the limits set out in Article 75(4).
Discussion between our employment lawyers:
Here is a link to our audio recording in which the employment lawyers at Conesa Legal discuss and analyse the details of this significant procedural change in employment law.
At the end, we also briefly cover the important changes to the preliminary hearing, which have likewise had an impact on the dismissal procedure.
