LGTBI protocol in the company (RD 1026/2024): what it must include and how to negotiate it in an SME with more than 50 staff

Since 10 October 2024, Spanish companies with more than 50 workers have a new and fairly little-known obligation: to have a planned set of measures for the equality and non-discrimination of LGTBI people and a protocol against harassment and violence towards them. Article 15 of Law 4/2023 sets it and Royal Decree 1026/2024 of 8 October develops it. It is not an equality plan and is not replaced by one, although it may be negotiated alongside it. This guide explains who it binds, who negotiates and within what deadlines, what the measures and the protocol must contain, how they apply to people who are not employees and what happens if the company does not do it.

Who it binds

Companies with more than 50 workers, counted across the whole company as for the equality plan. Those with 50 or fewer may adopt the measures voluntarily and, where their collective agreement includes them, apply them. The royal decree entered into force on 10 October 2024 and the companies bound had to start negotiating within the following three months; as of today, anyone above the threshold must have the measures agreed or, failing agreement, applied with the minimum content of the royal decree.

The personal scope is broad: the measures and the protocol apply to everyone working in the company regardless of their contractual link, and the protocol also reaches job applicants, staff supplied by temporary work agencies, suppliers, customers and visitors when they act within the company’s organisational sphere.

Who negotiates and within what deadlines

The measures are negotiated. The royal decree provides several routes:

• A sector or company collective agreement that includes them.
• A company agreement with the workers’ legal representatives, when the agreement does not regulate them or refers them to negotiation at company level.
• If there is no legal representation, the negotiating committee is formed with the most representative trade unions and those representative in the sector, with the same rules as for the equality plan; the company notifies them of its intention to negotiate and they have ten days to respond.
• Companies negotiating an equality plan may include the LGTBI measures in it, without losing their own identity.

The negotiation period is three months from the committee’s constitution. If it elapses without agreement, the company applies the measures in the royal decree’s annex as minimum content until one is reached, and can thereby prove compliance.

What the measures must contain

Annex I of Royal Decree 1026/2024 sets the subjects and minimum content of the planned set of measures:

1. Equal treatment and non-discrimination clauses on grounds of sexual orientation and identity, gender expression and sex characteristics, incorporated into the agreement.
2. Access to employment: selection processes with objective criteria, training for those who select and a commitment not to ask about orientation or identity.
3. Professional classification and promotion: objective, transparent criteria that prevent discrimination.
4. Training, awareness and language: training in LGTBI diversity for the whole workforce, with special attention to those with people-management responsibilities, and inclusive language in communications.
5. Diverse, safe and inclusive work environments: support measures for trans people at work, including those in transition, and respect for privacy.
6. Leave and social benefits: guaranteed equal access for same-sex couples and LGTBI families, and to leave related to transition processes.
7. Disciplinary regime: classification of discriminatory conduct and harassment on these grounds as infringements, with their penalties.

What the protocol against harassment and violence must contain

Annex II sets the content of the protocol, which may be integrated into the company’s general harassment protocol provided it includes its specifics:

• Statement of principles and company commitment.
• Scope, including the external persons mentioned.
• Definitions of discriminatory harassment and violence on grounds of sexual orientation and identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.
• Procedure: accessible, confidential reporting channel, reference person or body, deadlines, precautionary measures, investigation with guarantees for both parties, resolution and corrective measures.
• Guarantees: confidentiality, protection against reprisals, respect for privacy and identity, and support.
• Follow-up and evaluation, with periodic review.

If the company has 50 or more workers and therefore a Law 2/2023 whistleblowing channel, the protocol should state how the two channels fit together, as we explain in internal or external whistleblowing channel.

How it fits with the equality plan

They are different obligations with different thresholds: the equality plan from 50 workers, the LGTBI measures from more than 50. But they share a method (diagnosis, negotiation, measures with follow-up) and may be negotiated in the same committee and approved together. The practical difference is that the LGTBI measures have mandatory minimum content in the annex that applies if there is no agreement, while the equality plan is built on its own diagnosis. We explain the plan in equality plan in a 50-employee SME and the full map of obligations by size in labour compliance for SMEs: 2026 guide.

What happens if it is not done

Law 4/2023 defines its own infringements and penalties, and the Law on Infringements and Penalties in the Social Order penalises discriminatory business decisions and harassment on grounds of sexual orientation or identity as very serious infringements, with the highest amounts in the law. Not having the measures or the protocol when mandatory, besides the penalty, leaves the company defenceless when a case arises: no procedure, no reference person and no proof of having acted.

How to implement it in an SME, step by step

1. Check the threshold with the workforce counting rules.
2. Set up the committee with the legal representation or the unions, or include it in the equality plan committee.
3. Review what already exists: general harassment protocol, the agreement’s disciplinary regime, selection and leave policies, to adapt rather than duplicate.
4. Negotiate within three months with the royal decree’s annex as a script; failing agreement, apply its minimum content and document it.
5. Approve, communicate and train: publish the measures and the protocol, inform the whole workforce and the external persons concerned, train people managers and appoint the reference person or body.
6. Adjust systems: leave and benefit types with no distinction by type of couple, forms without unnecessary fields on sex or marital status, an accessible reporting channel.
7. Follow-up: periodic committee meeting, case log and protocol review.

How LapsoWork makes it easier

The document manager lets you publish the measures and the protocol and collect each person’s signed receipt from the app, with the date on record; the leave and absence module configures leave for marriage, domestic partnership, hospitalisation or bereavement of relatives with the same rule for all couples, as detailed in the paid leave table; and the Advanced plan’s whistleblowing channel offers a confidential route for protocol reports when the company decides to unify them. From €2 per employee per month.

Frequently asked questions

Which companies must have LGTBI measures and a protocol?

Those with more than 50 workers, under article 15 of Law 4/2023 and Royal Decree 1026/2024, in force since 10 October 2024. Those with 50 or fewer may adopt them voluntarily or when their agreement includes them.

Is the LGTBI protocol the same as the equality plan?

No. The equality plan is mandatory from 50 workers and is built on its own diagnosis; the LGTBI measures are mandatory from more than 50 and have minimum content set in the annexes of Royal Decree 1026/2024. They may be negotiated together and approved in the same agreement, but each keeps its identity.

How long is there to negotiate the LGTBI measures?

Three months from the constitution of the negotiating committee. If they elapse without agreement, the company applies the minimum content of the royal decree’s annex until it reaches one, and thereby proves compliance.

What if the company has no workers’ representatives?

The negotiating committee is formed with the most representative trade unions and those representative in the sector, with the same rules as for the equality plan: the company notifies them of its intention to negotiate and they have ten days to respond.

Who does the protocol against LGTBI harassment protect?

Everyone working in the company regardless of their contractual link, and also job applicants, temporary agency staff, suppliers, customers and visitors when they act within the company’s organisational sphere.

Conclusion

Royal Decree 1026/2024 requires companies with more than 50 people to negotiate within three months a set of LGTBI equality measures across seven subjects and a protocol against harassment with a channel, procedure and guarantees, applying the annex’s minimum content if there is no agreement. It fits with the equality plan, the general harassment protocol and the whistleblowing channel, and rests on concrete things: equal leave for all couples, forms without unnecessary questions and a confidential channel that works. To have those things live in your workforce’s app, try LapsoWork free for 30 days.