European country where employees who are late to work will be charged to their salary. Supreme Court decision
In Spain, employers can deduct from employees' wages the time they are late for work. The decision belongs to the Spanish Supreme Court and clarifies a practice disputed by the unions.
Employees must be punctual at work PHOTO: shutterstock
Spanish law, through the Statute of Workers, provides that the salary represents the payment for the work actually performed. Thus, if an employee works less, including due to delays, he can be paid less for that period, whether it is minutes or hours, according to Mediafax.
The decision comes after a concrete case in a call center company, where a time-keeping system was introduced to accurately record the entry and exit times of employees. Based on this data, the company began deducting from the salary the time when some employees arrived late to work, considering that interval not worked.
Unions, especially the Confederación General del Trabajo, challenged the measure in court. They argued that, in reality, the company was applying a hidden penalty, as the collective agreement already provided for other penalties for delays, and the pay cut would be a double penalty.
The company's representatives argued that it is not about a sanction, but about the non-payment of a period in which no actual work was done. The unions argued otherwise, accusing the application of a “wage fine”, a practice prohibited by Spanish labor law.
However, the Supreme Court of Spain ruled that there is no such fine in this case. The reason: the employee is not entitled to be paid for the time he did not work, if the delay is attributable to him.
Therefore, the court determined that companies can reduce the salary in proportion to the time not worked due to delays, without this measure being considered a disciplinary sanction.
