European justice rules that compensating or making long-term interim workers permanent is not enough

BrusselsEuropean justice once again rules against Spain for the abuse of long-term interim workers in public administrations across the State. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled this Tuesday that the measures provided for by Spanish legislation to sanction and compensate the "abusive use" of this type of worker in the public sector are insufficient. Specifically, the Luxembourg court concludes that measures such as the transformation of these temporary contracts into an indefinite but not permanent employment relationship, the payment of compensation to the worker at the time of termination of the employment relationship, or, among others, the call for selection processes that take into account the previous experience of the worker in question do not remedy the fact that Spanish regulations violate EU law.

In this way, the highest court of European justice has ruled that these measures "do not seem to properly sanction the abusive use" by the various administrations across the State of long-term interim workers and concludes that they "also do not eliminate the consequences of violating European Union law" by Spain in labor matters. "The measure entails maintaining a temporary employment relationship and, therefore, the precarious situation of the affected worker," argues the CJEU, which also recalls that "job stability is conceived as a primary component of worker protection."

The Luxembourg court warns that its role is not to rule on all cases of long-term interim workers that reach the Spanish justice system and, in any case, clarifies that its intention is to "provide clarifications" to the Supreme Court, which has the final say. In this regard, the CJEU points out that the compensation provided does not "eliminate" the consequences of the violation of EU law in all situations of long-term interim workers, and indicates that they should be accompanied by other measures that are truly "deterrent, effective, and proportionate."

Finally, the highest court of European justice assures that the call for selection processes "does not constitute an adequate measure to prevent and sanction abuses" against long-term interim workers either. The Luxembourg court notes that, despite valuing "the prior experience of the affected worker and the length of service," the "assessment is not limited to candidates who have been victims of these abuses" and recalls that the competitive examinations are open to anyone who wishes to participate. Thus, the CJEU concludes that it is "possible that the worker does not participate in the selection process or does not pass it" and, therefore, does not see their labor abuse, of which they have been a victim, compensated.

Both Spanish and European justice have already ruled on various cases of long-term interim workers in administrations throughout Spain. This time it is a childcare worker in a public educational center in the Community of Madrid who had chained six fixed-term contracts in the administration, as they were always to cover vacancies or temporary replacements. The worker took this case to court and the Supreme Court ruled that she should be hired indefinitely and, when her contract ended, she should be duly compensated.

The worker, however, requested that her employment relationship be declared permanent before the Supreme Court, which asked the CJEU. And, finally, the highest court of European justice has ruled that it is not a sufficient compensatory measure and, therefore, establishes jurisprudence in this regard. However, it is now the turn of the Spanish government, which will have to decide whether to reform the regulations again, and of the Supreme Court, which has several lawsuits open regarding the abusive situation suffered by a large part of long-term temporary workers in administrations, who represent almost a third of public workers throughout the State.