The justice declares Leitat's ERO null for "breaching the duty to negotiate in good faith"

BarcelonaJustice has declared null Leitat's employment regulation file (ERO), approved in 2024 and which affected 115 workers. The social court of Terrassa has ruled in favor of the 59 former employees who sued the company for formal defects in the collective dismissal. Furthermore, the judge considers it proven that the company "failed to negotiate in good faith" with the staff.

The ruling considers that the two entities involved in the file, Associació Acondicionamiento Tarrasense —which negotiated with the workers— and Fundació Leitat form a "pathological group of companies"; that is, a group of companies that are formally independent but act as one.

As the text shows, both entities "share a president and vice-president". The promoting entities also coincide: the Generalitat's agency for business competitiveness Acció and the employers' association Cecot of Terrassa.

Negotiate "in good faith"

According to the judge, "between Fundació Leitat and Acondicionamiento Tarrasense there is an economic transfer that lacks justification." The association, in this regard, would not have "revealed the real corporate structure" during the negotiations for the file. "The association presented the accounts of Acondicionamiento T, alleging 16 million euros in losses, and omits those of the Foundation, with a profit of 6.1 million" in the 2023 fiscal year.

In this regard, the judge considers that "only when the accounting documentation of all the group's companies is delivered can there be a real negotiation"; this was not fulfilled in the file approval process. Without this complete delivery, the ruling assures, there is no justified "economic cause" for collective dismissal.

According to the workers' defense, the technology center will have to face an expense of up to 18 million euros to cover the processing salaries and compensation for the approximately sixty reporting workers. The setback could be extended up to 30 million euros, as stated by the employees' lawyer, Tirso Garcia, to the Catalan News Agency, in case the rest of the former employees affected by the ERO are added, given that "nullity has universal effects".