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Collective dismissal is governed by Article 124 of the Ley 36/2011 reguladora de la jurisdicción social (Law 36/2011 on the organisation of labour courts) of 10 October 2011 (BOE No 245 of 11 October 2011, p. 106584). In the version in force as from 15 July 2012, that article, entitled ‘Collective dismissals for economic, technical or organisational reasons or reasons of production or force majeure’, provides: ‘1. The employer’s decision may be challenged by the employees’ statutory representatives by means of the procedure set out in the following paragraphs. Where the action is brought by trade-union delegates, they must be sufficiently involved in the collective dismissal procedure. 2. The action can be based on the following pleas in law: (a) the legal ground stated in the written notice is not present; (b) the consultation period has not taken place, the documents referred to in Article 51(2) of the Workers’ Statute have not been supplied or the procedure provided for in Article 51(7) of the Staff Regulations was not followed; (c) the dismissal decision was adopted by fraud, deception, coercion or abuse of law; (d) the dismissal decision was adopted in breach of fundamental rights and public freedoms. Applications concerning the failure to apply the priority rules on safeguarding employment provided for in legislation, collective agreements or an agreement adopted during the consultation period cannot in any event be subject to that procedure. Those applications must be made under the individual procedure referred to in paragraph 11 of this article. … 6. The action must be brought within 20 days from the date of the agreement concluded during the consultation period or of the date on which the workers’ representatives were notified of the collective dismissal decision adopted by the employer. … 9. Once the action has been declared admissible, the Registry shall notify the defendant employer and order him to submit, within five days and preferably by digital means, the documents and minutes of the consultation period and the communication of the result thereof to the Employment Authority. In the same order, the Registry shall set a time limit of five days within which the employer must bring the existence of the action brought by the employees’ representatives to the employees affected by the collective dismissal so that they may, within 15 days, provide the court with an address for service of the judgment. … 11. The judgment shall be rendered within 5 days of the hearing and may be subject to appeal. The decision terminating the employment relationship shall be declared valid where, in accordance with Article 51(2) or (7) of the Workers’ Statute, the employer confirms the existence of the legal ground on which he relies. The judgment shall declare the decision terminating the employment relationship invalid where the employer does not confirm the existence of the legal ground stated in the letter of dismissal. … 12. Once it becomes definitive, the judgment shall be served upon the parties and notified to the employees affected by the collective dismissals who have provided the court with an address for service, for the purposes of paragraph 13(b) of this article. The definitive judgment shall be notified, for information, to the Employment Authority, the unemployment fund and social security administration, where they have not been parties to the proceedings. 13. When the proceedings concern an action brought by an individual before the Juzgado de lo Social (Social Court, Spain) against a dismissal, Articles 120 to 123 of this Law shall apply, subject to the following special provisions: (a) where the dispute relates to the priority given to certain workers, the action must also be brought against them. The action must also be brought against the employees’ representatives where the measure has been taken with their consent, provided that those who have not signed the agreement have not challenged the dismissal decision in accordance with the preceding paragraphs; (b) if, pursuant to the preceding paragraphs, the employees’ representatives bring an action against the employer’s decision after the commencement of proceedings brought by an individual, those proceedings shall be suspended until a decision has been taken in the action brought by the employees’ representatives, which, once it is final, shall have the force of res judicata with regard to the individual proceedings, in accordance with Article 160(5) of this Law; (c) in addition to the grounds referred to in Article 122(2) of this Law, the dismissal shall be void where the employer has not opened the consultation period, provided the documents referred to in Article 51(2) of the Workers’ Statute, complied with the procedure laid down in Article 51(7) of that Statute or obtained judicial authorisation from the insolvency court where that is required by law. The termination of the contract decided upon by the employer without observance of the priorities safeguarding posts, which may flow from laws, collective agreements or the agreement reached in the consultation period, shall also be void. That nullity does not extend to terminations of contracts made in the same collective dismissal in compliance with the post-safeguarding priorities.’