The fact that there is no longer the worker's obligation to submit the sick leave report does not mean that the company cannot force him to notify that he has been given the low.

The Judgment of the National Court 6652/2023 of December 18, 2023 resolves the collective dispute raised by appeal 269/2023, in which it was requested to issue a ruling declaring the cessation of the business practice consisting of the obligation of the worker to notify the company in advance in cases of use and enjoyment of medical hours as well as the obligation to subsequently communicate the medical leave due to Temporary Disability.

The company is subject to the III state-level collective agreement of the Contact Center sector, published in the BOE on June 9, 2023, whose article 30.2 recognizes the right of workers to use up to 35 paid hours per year to attend consultations with Social Security doctors. And there has been an agreement since May 18, 2006 between the Legal Representation of Workers and the company that regulated the justification of said leave of up to 35 hours, indicating for example that the receipt should contain the start and end time of the consultation, and that in cases of consultations in which the start and end of the consultation could not be recorded, the receipt could be replaced by another in which the assistance to the doctor with a date was reflected, providing another in which The time of the appointment is justified, meaning that three hours of attendance are justified from the time of the appointment, and if this time is exceeded, the end time of the consultation must be justified.

The company informed its staff of the new management procedure for medical leave processes established by Royal Decree 1060/2022, of December 27, and that would come into force as of April 1, 2023, with express indication in the "working people" section that the obligation to deliver the sick leave, confirmation and medical discharge reports to the company disappeared. And in addition, he sent a communication on May 8, 2023 by email to the entire staff in which he recalled that “ For proper organization of the service, if you are absent from your workplace, it is mandatory that you notify your manager. And if it is a medical leave you must inform the Shift Department of your workplace.”.

The National Court understands that this obligation to notify your manager of your absence from work, as well as to report a medical leave to the Shift Department of your workplace, is not contrary to the content of the 2006 agreement, nor does it violate it in any way.

And it distinguishes between "justifying" the absence and "communicating" the absence, the advance notice being compatible with the subsequent justification, in accordance with the principle of good faith in the exercise of the entrusted functions and the adequate organization of the service that is affected by the absence.