Tuesday, September 5, 2023, 17:26
The right to digital disconnection that Spanish workers have as a result of a 2018 law, which forced companies to respect their employees’ breaks and vacations without any type of interference or communication, does not apply to everyone. Those who are receiving an availability bonus may be contacted by their employer outside of working hours without breaking the law, as endorsed by the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) in a recent ruling dated July 17. to which this newspaper has had access.
The High Court thus rejects an appeal filed by the CSIF union against another ruling by a social court in which it unsuccessfully claimed the right of the 295 of the digital services company CBM to digital disconnection “except in circumstances of force majeure or exceptional.” The 45 employees of the Pozuelo center, all earning extra availability, were contacted by their company through their telephone or email to inform them of schedule changes to be able to provide the recording and live services that it provides to Telemadrid.
The ruling argues that “if the company is authorized to call workers to carry out shift changes the twelve hours before having to perform a service, this implies that sometimes it will have to do so during rest periods and if the worker earns Availability must be available.
This bonus “as a non-consolidable salary supplement, rewards the express acceptance by the worker to work the indicated day, as well as to join his job or remain there outside of that day, when the needs of the service so require.” require,” he explains.