How do I hire an apprentice?

How to hire an apprentice in Spain?

If you want to hire an apprentice in your company, you must sign an agreement with a university or institute, in which, in general, a financial support for the student will be agreed (in which case you must register him/her and pay social security contributions (see here the new contribution for trainees, although at reduced rates).

Despite the fact that in these cases there is no employment relationship, day-to-day life can mean that the grant holder ends up having the same rights as an employee.

TRAINING PURPOSE of an apprentice contract

Complement to an apprentice

The apprentice must be a complement to the studies of the person concerned.

Thus, a disguised employment relationship will exist when hiring an intern if the greatest benefit of the relationship is for your company, i.e. if the work carried out satisfies your company’s needs rather than the student’s training needs.

Example of what not to do when recruiting an apprentice

Thus, if you hire a tourism student for your hotel establishment, the training purpose will be fulfilled if the student works at the reception desk as a companion to the employees who usually occupy the receptionist position.

However, if you include the trainee in the timetable and on-call schedule, as just another receptionist, the training purpose will be distorted and there will actually be an employment relationship.

HOW TO DEAL WITH A TRAINEE?

Appropriate tasks for the trainee

Therefore, make sure that the trainee’s tasks complement his or her theoretical training. To this end:

• Assign a mentor (e.g. the head of the department he/she joins) to mentor him/her and issue a traineeship monitoring report.

When hiring a trainee, it is advisable to follow a training programme (e.g. the trainee goes through different positions and this is recorded in the mentor’s report).

• Avoid having the trainee carry out tasks without content or training value. For example, if the trainee is studying engineering, do not make him/her file invoices; or if he/she has repeatedly performed a task, move him/her from one position to another and assign him/her to other tasks.

Signs of fraud when hiring an intern

Also avoid certain actions that, in the event of a conflict, could be used as evidence that an employment relationship has existed. For example:

Duration of the internship

Avoid internships lasting more than 50% of the duration of the academic year (if it is longer, it could be understood as hindering the student’s training).

Apprentice’s timetable

Assign the intern a timetable that allows him/her to combine the internship with his/her studies, even if this timetable is different from that of the rest of the employees (for example, entering or leaving an hour earlier).

Apprentice Identification

When assigning them an e-mail address, it is preferable not to give them an account with their name on it, and to state their status as an intern in the signature on their e-mail.

Risks associated hiring an apprentice

If you do not take these precautions and a disguised employment relationship exists, the student could claim to be considered a permanent employee of your company.

And in that case:

• You would have to recognise his seniority from day one, pay him according to the collective agreement and pay social security contributions at the ordinary contribution rate (plus a surcharge).
• In addition, the inspectorate could impose a fine of between 626 and 6250 euros.