The paid nature of leave for urgent reasons in the event of illness or accident has been established, and is applicable even if it is not regulated by the Collective Agreement or if there is an agreement in this regard with the legal representation of the workers.

The National Court, Social Chamber, resolves the Collective Disputes procedure presented by the Galician Inter-Union Confederation (CIG) to which procedures 325/2023 and 327/2023   initiated by other unions (UGT, TU-SI, CSI-F and CSI) were added.

The subject of the litigation is the statement made by the defendant company on November 10, 2023, indicating that "...although at first, conservatively, we maintained its paid nature, a new in-depth review of said precept, together with the study of the recent administrative doctrine on the matter, leads us to conclude that said leave is UNpaid unless the collective agreement, or failing that agreement with the company, indicates otherwise." A declaration of the paid nature of the leave is requested in the absence of provision or CC. applicable.

According to art. 37.9 of the E.T. “ Workers will have the right to be absent from work due to force majeure when necessary for urgent family reasons related to family members or cohabitants, in the event of illness or accident that makes their immediate presence essential. Workers will have the right to be paid for the hours of absence for the reasons provided for in this section equivalent to four days a year, in accordance with the provisions of the Collective Agreement or, failing that, in an agreement between the company and the legal representation of the workers, with the workers providing, where appropriate, accreditation of the reason for absence.

The AN interprets article 37.9 doing an exhaustive analysis based on four interpretations; According to the literal interpretation of said rule, it is clearly recognized that the worker can be absent from work while maintaining his remuneration, with the reference being made to the Collective Agreement or company agreements solely to determine the form of accreditation of the reason for the absence; Secondly, according to the systematic interpretation the legislator regulates in art. 37 of the E.T. is the “ Weekly rest, parties and permits.", interruptions in the provision of services that in principle are remunerated; thirdly, in accordance with the finalist historical interpretation, the AN bases its decision on the content of the Explanatory Memorandum of RD LAW 5/2023, which includes the recommendation of Directive 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 20, 2019 that said leave be remunerated "hours equivalent to four being provided as paid.”; and finally, according to the sociological interpretation, it must be resolved taking into account “ a prosecution with a gender perspective, having the informing character of the Legal System of the principle of equal treatment”, otherwise what is done is perpetuate the gender gap, since such care leave has a greater incidence on women, and therefore any reduction in remuneration for exercising conciliation rights implies discrimination.