The Social Court No. 1 of Orense declares the employment relationship terminated in accordance with art.50.1.c of the Workers' Statute upon proving a serious breach by the employer regarding the prevention of psychosocial risks and violation of the fundamental right to physical and mental integrity protected in the art.15 of the Spanish Constitution.

The worker had been providing services in a women's fashion design department of an important brand since 2004.. Between 2014 and 2022, she enjoyed a reduction in working hours to care for her child, which she finally replaced with flexible hours. He was in ERTE from April 1, 2020 to December 1, 2021, the date he reinstated.

Since 2018, there has been a hostile work environment in his department generated by the two responsible parties, characterized by shouting, humiliation and continuous tension, causing a high staff turnover and mental health problems (depression and anxiety) for several workers. The plaintiff also suffered work overload and systematic extensions of working hours.

After rejoining the ERTE,The worker requested improvements and an end to the harassment. On June 30, 2022, he signed an action plan with the company that established functions and objectives within a period of six months, with a clause that allowed the contract to be terminated if the commitments were not met. She was recognized as a Higher Technician and a new salary of 5,376.62 euros from January 2024.

The plan was not fulfilled and the environment did not improve.On June 24, 2024, the worker began medical leave due to polyarthrosis, although he was later diagnosed with fibromyalgia, central sensitization syndrome, anxiety, depression and chronic work stress.

The expert and medical reports confirmed the direct relationship between his state of health and the hostile work environment. In addition, a 2021 study by the Own Prevention Service had already detected high psychosocial risks in the company, without corrective measures being adopted.

On May 15, 2025, there was an attempt at conciliation without agreement and on May 16, 2025,lawsuit requesting termination of the contract based on art. 50.1 c) of the ET (serious breaches by the employer) and the corresponding compensation for unfair dismissal (art. 56 ET), in addition to an additional compensation of €164,858.76 for property, physical, mental and moral damages.

The company denied the existence of harassment and of lack of prevention of psychosocial risks y claimed that there was no breach of contract some.

The Court considered the facts proven based on the testimony of witnesses who described systematic harassment, shouting, humiliation, work overload and constant fear.. The judge highlighted the testimony of one of the workers who broke down and cried during her statement, the veracity of the facts and real suffering being evident. The existence of persistent mistreatment, lack of support from Human Resources and corporate tolerance of harassment by department heads is confirmed.

Regarding workplace harassment (mobbing), it is defined in the ruling of the TSJ Galicia, 11/26/2009 as “c “Abusive conduct or systematic psychological violence that degrades working conditions and violates the dignity and moral integrity of the worker.”

In this case,The judge appreciated collective harassment (bossing) exercised by the hierarchical managers, shouting, humiliation, isolation with prohibition of speaking among colleagues, fear, tension and persistent overload since 2018. A lack of response by Human Resources to the repeated complaints is credited.

The company had limited itself to asking the Prevention Service to carry out the identification and evaluation of the company's psychosocial factors; the issued report reflected that there were serious risks in terms of workload, supervision and participation, compensation and performance of the role. The company did not adopt corrective measures to reduce these risks, one of them being work stress due to work overload. Furthermore, the working hours records reflected excessive working hours of up to 11 hours a day and a culture of unpaid extension of working hours.

The court highlights that, in accordance with the ruling of the Supreme Court of May 17, 2018, Serious non-compliance with occupational risk prevention includes psychosocial risks.. These risks,According to the action guide of the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, they are “those aspects of the design, organization and management of work and its social environment that can cause psychological, social or physical damage to the health of workers.”.

In the specific case, concludes The company knew or should have known about the situation and did not take corrective measures, which constitutes a serious breach of their duty to protect.

The judge considers accredited:

• Workplace harassment (continued psychological violence).
• Omission of preventive measures necessary to prevent psychosocial risks.
• Accredited physical and psychological damage (depression, fibromyalgia, chronic stress).
• Violation of the fundamental right to physical and moral integrity (art. 15 CE).

These facts constitute a just cause for termination of the contract (art. 50.1 c) ET) and justify aggravated compensation.

Failed:

The demand formulated by the worker is estimated and declares the employment relationship terminated existing between the parties, condemning the company to pay compensation of 157,816.80 euros(art. 56 ET), plus a additional compensation for moral damages and violation of fundamental rights in the amount of 150,000 euros applying LISOS criteria to the maximum degree for very serious infractions.