Did you just receive a targeted lay-off letter and are you still on notice? Are you getting married soon? Has your brother been in an accident and hospitalized? The Workers' Statute, the Freedom of Association Act and the Labor Risk Prevention Act contain a series of paid leave, which allow any worker to leave his or her job for hours or even days, without this affecting his payroll in order Of month.
Although the Spanish legislation includes the situations in which justified faults are foreseen, it has been the different courts that have dictated jurisprudence thanks to particular cases that went beyond the brief statement of the laws.
Although both the judgments and the regulations give these rights to workers, certain requirements must be met in order to enjoy them without problems. In the first place, you always have to warn about the fault and justify the company in a proper way.
The company, in turn, may try to modify, in some cases and for organizational reasons, the days of enjoyment. However, if there is no agreement between the two parties, the worker's request will always prevail, and he may enjoy those days when he has requested it, provided that they are logically related to the fact that caused the permit in question.
On the other hand, it should not be forgotten that some collective agreements improve the basic conditions that the law collects, for example granting more days off by moving or by birth of a child. If the employer does not apply them, the worker or his legal representatives would have the right to file suit in court.
Caring for a relative in the hospital on a Tuesday
The Superior Court of Justice of Las Palmas, in a ruling of October 2016, has indicated that the days of hospitalization leave of a relative up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity are always considered workable, unless the collective agreement on which a Specify otherwise. Therefore, it could not be included in the computation neither the holidays nor the weekly breaks.
This decision, which dismisses the petition filed by the company, confirms the previous ruling handed down by a social court, which had accepted a petition for collective dispute filed by Comisiones Obreras.
No promotion for a risky pregnancy
The Constitutional Court (TC) has protected, by a decision made public in January 2017, a woman who could not choose to improve her working conditions because, at the time when this possibility arose, she was on leave due to pregnancy Risk, which she then chained with a maternity leave.
Thus, the TC, which annulled the prior verdict of the High Court of Justice of Andalusia, considers that the company had to notify his employee of this opportunity despite the fact that he was not working at the time. Failing to do so, it violated her right not to be discriminated against on grounds of sex, as the cause of her loss stems from her status as a woman, according to the ruling.
Being a parent does not penalize the collection of incentives
The fourth chamber of the Supreme Court Social has established in a ruling of January 10, 2017 that it is discriminatory and contrary to law "the business practice consisting in computing as absences the maternity leave as well as the risk of pregnancy for the effects of Productive days to be entitled to the rewards of various incentives. "
It annuls the previous ruling of the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia and determines that this reduction can not be taken into account when making the relevant calculations to collect any type of incentive. In order to avoid discrimination and ensure equality of opportunity between men and women, the High Court considers that parental leave will not be taken into account as well.
Avoid occupational hazards during breastfeeding
Parents are eligible for paid lactation leave until their child is nine months old. The Supreme Court has repeatedly supported it; In 2012 the social room took another step in assessing risk situations during this period. In this case, the worker was on low risk during her pregnancy, an assumption that also alleged during breastfeeding.
The High Court did not accept either the company's or the company's reasons for dismissing it and recalled that "the risk assessment should include the determination of the nature, extent and duration of the exposure of female breastfeeding women To agents, procedures or working conditions that may adversely affect their health or that of the infant. "
Charge to go to trial as plaintiff
The Social Chamber of the Supreme Court considered that not only persons who attend a trial as a witness, expert or defendant will enjoy paid leave. Thus, the judgment states that "also in cases where the worker acts as a claimant has, even if he does not have the right or duty to attend the trial, an obligation derived from the diligence of a good parent in the management of his Business, which also derives from the fundamental right to effective judicial protection proclaimed in Article 24 of the Constitution.
The limitation, the sentence continues, "could only be understood in order to avoid abuse", a situation that is regulated by the possibility of imposing fines for recklessness in the case of clearly unfounded claims.
Justifying absences is also working
One of the requirements to enjoy a paid leave is the justification after the company why the work center has not been visited. A ruling issued in September 2016 by the Audiencia Nacional confirms that the employee will be able to carry out the necessary procedures to complete this justification during working hours without discounting this time of his day.
Thus, it will be considered effective working time that all those workers who, for example, use computer programs to upload to the corporate system documents that prove their absence or have to fill out a form for the same purpose. Not in vain, the minutes that the employee devotes in this task will save the company certain administrative costs.
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