Queer equality becomes mandatory for companies

On 8 October 2024, the Spanish government made queer equality a binding obligation for companies. With Royal Decree 1026/2024, it required businesses with more than fifty employees to introduce concrete measures for the equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. The decree was published in the Official State Gazette the following day and took effect on 10 October.

The legal basis already existed: in February 2023, Spain had passed the so-called Trans Law, which was also intended to strengthen the rights of LGBTI people. Article fifteen required larger companies to adopt a package of measures and a protocol for protection against harassment. How these requirements were to be implemented, however, remained unclear. The new decree provided clarity.

The requirements range from equal treatment clauses and fair recruitment and promotion criteria to training and inclusive language. Nobody may be disadvantaged when it comes to leave or social benefits either. In addition, there must be a procedure to identify and punish harassment and violence against queer employees. Employers and staff representatives are to negotiate the measures together. If no agreement is reached within three months, the minimum requirements set out in the annexes to the decree apply provisionally.

Spain is thus building on workplace equality between the sexes, where equality plans are already mandatory from fifty employees. Now sexual orientation and gender identity are also firmly included in workplace protection against discrimination.

Since April 2025, the measures have had to be in place, regardless of whether the negotiating parties reached agreement. What matters is how they work in everyday working life. Discrimination often happens casually: in promotions, in personnel files or in conversation by the coffee machine. That is where the decree is meant to make a difference.