Master in Labour and Social Security Law

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The Master in Labour and Social Security Law specifically trains students in the necessary skills for labour legal advice, from advising companies and public institutions to negotiating and defending the different parties in labour relations, either individual or through collective bargaining.

  • Legal defence
  • Labour relations
  • Labour legal advice

Next edition

Classes start: 29 September, 2023

Program ends: 01 July, 2024 (To be confirmed)

Modality

On-campus

Language

Spanish

ECTS credits

60

Schedule

Thursday and Friday from 4 pm to 9 pm.

Price

10000 €

* Important: Approximately 20% of the sessions of this program can be taught in Catalan.

This university training is characterized, mainly, by offering students a very complete syllabus concerning labour law that goes beyond simple updating, complementation, or review, training specialists in the social branch of law and the labour market. The program aims to train lawyers specialized in Labour and Social Security Law and, therefore, is different from other programs in Human Resources, labour relations, social promotion, or business advice in general.

Throughout the subjects of the master, you will learn labour, collective bargaining, work, and social security regulations and you will delve into the main interpretive problems posed by the latest regulatory changes and the criteria applied in labour legal advice. In addition, the subjects in the master will provide you with up-to-date knowledge on constitutional jurisprudence and the Spanish Supreme Court, highlighting what refers to the unification of the doctrine applied to lawyers and companies and, if applicable, that of the higher courts of justice of the autonomous communities, especially in the case of Catalonia.

The master's course offers the student a very diverse team of teachers. The composition of the last two courses consisted of 19 university professors belonging to 13 different universities and various fields of the labour legal environment, 9 magistrates, 7 lawyers from the Public Administration, 4 practising lawyers and 2 Work and Social Security Inspectors.

The Master in Labour and Social Security Law is endorsed by Pompeu Fabra University, the 1st Spanish university and the 15th best university in the world (of those with less than 50 years), according to the Times Higher Education ranking. In addition, UPF Barcelona School of Management has EQUIS accreditation, the most prestigious institutional recognition for business schools globally.

Why choose this program

01

Study at an accredited school

Study at a school accredited by EQUIS, an international distinction that guarantees the quality of our institution and makes us the 1st school of management linked to a public university with this accreditation in our country.

02

Gain access to a profession in great demand

Labour relations have always presented a high degree of judicialization, so there is a sustained demand for the education of specialists in labour law (lawyers and graduates with good company knowledge). Every year, in Catalonia alone, more than 62,000 cases in matters of management of labour law and labour legal advice enter the courts. In approximately half of these, more than 30,000, a trial is held and the corresponding sentence or negotiation is given, while the others are reconciled and some are abandoned. This gives us a clear idea of the social need for a large number of legal specialists and lawyers in this area.

03

Reference program in the sector

For more than 28 courses, the master has been training students as specialists in the social branch of law and as lawyers, subject to continuous reforms and management systems, both in labour matters and in the elaboration of collective agreements, which makes the program a reference in the labour law sector.

04

Learn from industry experts

The teaching team of the master is made up of diverse professors who come from many universities and different areas of experience, as well as specialists from all legal subjects and professions (magistrates, inspectors, lawyers, public administration lawyers, etc.) both from Spain and from the European environment.

05

Connect to the professional world

The master program satisfies the diverse needs of students: preparation for public examinations, change of speciality in the field of work and social security, preparation for free practice as a lawyer specializing in labour relations, new knowledge and recycling of all the subject after years of dealing with a few topics on labour legal management, etc.

06

Undertake professional internships

Students on the Master will have the opportunity to carry out specialized professional internships in the field of labour relations, Labour Law and Social Security in Spain.

Who is it for?

The master is one of the courses that is aimed primarily at graduate students in Law or Labour Relations, who are interested in specializing or deepening their skills and knowledge in the professional practice of labour law and advice in the field of Labour Law and labour relations in companies.


Exceptionally, those graduates from other fields (such as Economics, Labour Sciences or Political Sciences) could apply as students of the master provided they have certain knowledge and a minimum legal-labour basis for having taken subjects in Labour Law and labour relations in Spain.

Admission and enrolment
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Curriculum

The Master in Labour and Social Security Law structures its curriculum in 3 large areas that revolve around the subjects of procedural law, labour law and the right to social security, and give the students the necessary experience for accessing numerous companies and offices in the judicial environment.

According to possible legislature developments in Spain, the final program and the methodology that allows us to reach the end of the Master can be slightly different.

Note: The language of the program will be mainly Spanish, although approximately 20% of the classes will be done in Catalan. Therefore, a knowledge of Catalan is required at the level of understanding.

Procedural Law
The social process: competence, legitimation, etc.
The ordinary process
Special processes: for dismissal and sanctions
Special processes: union conflicts et al.
Processes in matters of Social Security, monitoring procedure et al.
Ex officio procedure and challenge of administrative acts
Jurisdictional resources
Provisional and definitive execution of sentences
Conciliation, mediation, and arbitration
Labour aspects of insolvency proceedings
Labour Law
Subjective scope of labour law. Common, special, and self-employed employment relationships
Constitutional model of collective rights, and legal development of freedom of association
Other forms of representation: work councils and union delegates
Collective bargaining: collective agreements, agreements, and other negotiated forms of collective autonomy
Entrepreneur and company. Business groups and multi-service companies
Contracts and illegal assignment of workers. New forms of business organization
Public administration as employer
Employment contract: effectiveness of the employment contract, modality, and content
The right to health of workers and the prevention of occupational risks
Working time. Working hours, overtime, shifts, rest, national and regional holidays, leave, and vacation
Duration of the employment contract: permanent and temporary contracts
Professional classification, ius variandi. Functional mobility
Salary and salary guarantees
Telework: concept and working conditions
Substantial modifications of working conditions
Geographical mobility. Transfers and postings
Suspension of the employment contract. Leave of absence
Temporary and permanent redundancy
Objective dismissals. Causes and form
Disciplinary dismissal. Causes and form
Community jurisprudence
Labour and Social Security Inspection: applied administrative criteria
Social Security Law
Subjective scope and legal relationship of affiliation
Contributions and special agreement
Collection and executive procedure
Work accidents and collaborating insurance companies
Business responsibilities
Healthcare
Temporary disability
Maternity, paternity, and risk situations
Permanent disability: benefits and review
Retirement: requirements, benefits, and compatibility
Partial, early, or postponed retirement
Non-contributory pensions
Child birth and dependent children benefits
Death and survival
Dynamics of benefits: revaluation, incompatibilities, etc.
Unemployment: benefits, subsidies, and job seekers allowance
Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers
Integrated special regimes and special systems
Special regimes for public officials
Dependence: valuations and benefits. Guaranteed income and Minimum Living Income
Community social protection, and temporary displacement
Administrative criteria applied in the National Institute of Social Security
Master's Final Project
Master's Final Project

Complementary activities

The Master in Labour and Social Security Law also includes the possibility of participating in practical activities and activities for personal and professional growth such as:

  • UPF-BSM Inside: is a group of interdisciplinary subjects (applied data, communication, creativity, innovation and project management, sustainability and leadership among others) that, if you take this program, you can access at no additional cost. They are 100% online and you can take them throughout the academic year at your own pace, as they have been designed as self-study subjects.

 

Qualification obtained

Once you have passed the program, you will obtain an electronic degree (e-Título) for Máster de Formación Permanente en Derecho Laboral y de la Seguridad Social issued by the Pompeu Fabra University.

The e-Título is an authentic digital degree, issued in pdf format and electronically signed, with the same legal validity as if it were in paper format.

Faculty

The teaching team of the Master in Labour and Social Security Law is made up of a diverse team of teachers with extensive experience in education who come from different companies and universities as well as specialists from all professions in the labour legal field (magistrates, inspectors, lawyers, public administration lawyers, etc.).

Academic directors

Julia Lopez Lopez
Julia Lopez Lopez

Full Professor UPF

Deputy Directors

Eusebi Colàs-Neila
Eusebi Colàs-Neila

Teaching Colaborator

Methodology

The Master in Labour and Social Security Law is conceived with the purpose of combining two objectives that could seem antagonistic at the educational level: generality and depth. The first experience is manifested in an all-encompassing program design in which all aspects of the world of work, labour law, collective agreements and labour disputes are considered, with special emphasis on those aspects that have undergone more recent modifications.

01.

Group practical cases

Throughout the master, practically half of the face-to-face sessions offered to students are devoted to the analysis of practical cases, which are examined and discussed in class with the entire group of students.

02.

Diverse and specialized teaching team

The composition of the teaching team of the latest courses consisted of 13 university professors with experience from 7 different universities, 9 magistrates (TS, TSJC, JS), 8 public administration lawyers, 5 practising lawyers and 5 Labour and Social Security inspectors.

03.

Tutoring and monitoring

Throughout the course the academic management team will monitor the student to offer support and ensure their correct progress in relation to labour legal assessment.

Evaluation

To obtain the title corresponding to our courses, it is essential that students complete the Master's Final Project, attend classes regularly (a minimum of 80%) and pass the practical exercises and compulsory work, whose conditions of delivery and preparation will be defined, in each case, by the professionals who commission them.

Tools

Project-oriented learning and the combination of lectures and active methodologies such as case studies, flipped learning, solving real problems and professional simulations allow the student to connect theory and practice, acquire advanced skills and achieve learning which is transferable to work.

You will have:

  • Master's Final Project (TFM) or  Postgrad Final Project (TFP)
  • A personal mentor to monitor your final project (TFM or TFP)
  • Digital resources to achieve transversal skills
  • Interdisciplinary activities and workshops

Professional Future

The Master in Labour and Social Security Law brings together legal professionals in each course, together with lawyers who wish to specialize in this branch of Law and labour disputes in companies. Throughout the program of the master, students will be trained to continue their career in the professional market as specialists in labour legal assessment.

Student profile

Our master's students are mostly legal professionals who wish to become specialists in Labour and Social Security Law in different organizations in a European environment, whether they are acquiring this speciality for the first time after recently joining a law firm or by changing speciality given the high current demand for specialists in law and in the labour market. In particular, graduates who have recently started practising as lawyers or as company graduates tell us that their interest is to expand their training in issues that they once deemed irrelevant, together with a natural focus on the most recent regulatory reforms.

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Average age

50%

Previous studies in Law

42%

Previous studies in Labour Relations

8%

Previous studies in Legal and Social Sciences

Career opportunities

This university master training includes the possibility of doing extracurricular internships as a lawyer in a law firm at the end of the master. This type of internship is not part of the academic content of the master or postgraduate course; it is considered a complement to the students' class sessions and is not mandatory.


The program meets diverse needs at a professional level and helps the student who reaches the end of the master to:

  • Prepare oppositions
  • Change specialization to the field of work and social security
  • Prepare for the free practice of law as a specialist lawyer
  • Update knowledge related to Labour and Social Security Law
  • Create a firm for advising companies, workers or organizations

Admission and enrolment

Our admission process consists of a rigorous evaluation of each application to preserve the quality of the group as well as the training, experience, and work capacity of all students.

Who can apply?

To access the places for enrolment in the Master in Labour and Social Security Law, you need to be a lawyer, graduate or higher graduate with a university degree.

Those participants who do not have Spanish as one of their mother tongues or who did not have it as a teaching language in their training studies, must prove that they have at least a B2 level of Spanish (Common European Framework of Reference), as well as fluently take part in a personal interview with the academic director, if necessary.

How to apply?

To apply for admission to this program, students must read and accept the Terms and Conditions of Contract once they start the application for admission through the following form.

Application for admission

Complete your application within the next admission rounds:

RoundApplication deadlineAdmission resolution
1114/06/202329/06/2023
1222/06/202307/07/2023
1329/06/2023 13/07/2023

Applications for admission will be evaluated when you complete the following steps:

  • Complete the online admission form.
  • Pay the €120 admission fee. This amount will be returned if you are not admitted.
  • Send the following documents through the online platform e-registrar:
    • Presentation letter or video
    • CV
    • Scanned copy of university degree (if you are in the last year of your degree, you can provide your academic records)
    • Scanned copy of Transcript of Records. Make sure that it includes your GPA (Grade Point Average)
    • Scanned copy of ID Card or Passport
    • Passport-size photo (jpg format)

Additional documents may be requested in certain cases.
Application rounds are subject to the number of places available on the program.

Admission

  • The Admissions Committee will select the candidates on the basis of a personal or CV-based interview.
  • You will be notified of the admission decision in writing.

Enrolment

  • Registration must be paid within a 15 days after the admission.
  • Once the letter of acceptance to the program has been received, you will need to submit the following original documents before the course begins:
    • Stamped and/or authenticated photocopy of your university degree.
  • If you have a foreign degree you may need to submit additional documents.
  • Paying the reservation fee (25% of the program's tuition fees) is essential in order to reserve your place
  • If you pay the tuition fees by bank transfer you will be required to introduce the program code. The program code for this course is 1011.
  • The remaining tuition fees must be paid 2 weeks before the start of the course.

Grants, scholarships and financing

Scholarships

The UPF Barcelona School of Management offers you different means of financing so that you can take any of our programs without worry. We offer you the opportunity to finance part of your program, either by rewarding your talent through scholarships, through grants from entities dedicated to promoting education or through collaboration agreements with financial entities.

Grants and discounts

Funding

Financing simulator

You can choose how to finance your studies by consulting our simulator and receive an answer in less than 24 hours.

Go to the simulator

Collaborating entities

We collaborate with various entities which provide study loans on favorable terms. For more information you can contact any of the following links. 

Master in Labour and Social Security Law

APPLY FOR ADMISSIONREQUEST INFORMATION