Employment - Legislative and case law developments

1. Civil service partial retirement: new rules on filling vacated posts

Royal Decree-Law 19/2026 of 29 June now requires public authorities to include express provision for early partial retirement in their civil service recruitment notices (or equivalent instruments). The post vacated by the relieving worker must be filled through those same recruitment processes. Temporary contracts may be used to cover the resulting vacancy. As a secondary option, the partial retirement arrangement may be linked to a permanent full-time contract entered into between 1 April 2024 and 1 April 2027.

2. Second extension of the automotive sector layoff scheme

Order 654/2026 of 29 June extends the RED Mechanism for Employment Flexibility and Stabilisation in the motor vehicle manufacturing sector for a further six months, under article 47 bis.1 of the Workers’ Statute. This is the scheme’s second extension. To qualify, companies falling within the relevant CNAE (national economic activity classification) must show a drop in social security registration of at least 25% and an average workforce of 30% or more on temporary layoff (ERTE) between 22 April 2022 and 1 June 2025. Companies in their value chain are also eligible. In return, participating employers must not make any redundancies for two years after the scheme ends and must draw up and implement a professional reskilling plan.

3. Unlawfully obtained personal data may still be admissible in court

The CJEU has ruled that courts may admit personal data unlawfully obtained by a party as evidence, provided that disclosure is limited to what is strictly necessary. A breach of data-protection information obligations does not, of itself, prevent the evidence from being used. The CJEU also confirmed that courts must comply with the GDPR when processing data relating to third parties who are not parties to the proceedings. However, EU law does not require that a party be able to rely, as against the opposing party, on the fact that such data was collected in breach of those third parties’ rights.

4. Unforeseen supplementary hours must always be considered voluntary

The Supreme Court has dismissed appeals by Azulhandling Spain LTD, IHandling Aviation Airports Airlines S.L. and Ryanair DAC, striking down a provision that treated unforeseen supplementary hours as compulsory. The Court ruled that the provision was invalid because it conflicted with the voluntary nature of such hours as set out in both article 12.5 of the Workers’ Statute and the applicable sectoral collective agreement. The Court also found that the arrangement effectively introduced compulsory, emergency hours (horas perentorias) into part-time contracts, circumventing the sectoral ban on imposing them on part-time workers.

5. Attendance bonus: payable on leave, not during temporary incapacity

The Supreme Court has ruled on a dispute between several trade unions and Logirail SME, S.A. over whether workers are entitled to the attendance bonus under the Second Collective Agreement during paid leave and periods of temporary incapacity. The Court drew a clear distinction between the two situations. It held that the bonus is payable during statutory paid leave, since it forms a regular component of salary and is part of the minimum guaranteed by the collective agreement. However, the bonus does not accrue during temporary incapacity, because the employment contract is suspended during that period. The Court added that no days of annual leave may be counted while a worker is temporarily incapacitated.

6. Working time records: union’s claim fails on standing

The Supreme Court has dismissed the trade union CGT’s cassation appeal against El Corte Inglés, S.A. The union had sought copies of working time records at all of the employer’s workplaces and challenged the company’s restrictions on access to that information. The Court raised the issue of standing of its own motion, holding that the CGT could claim only the rights attached to its trade union delegates (delegados sindicales) at its two Madrid workplaces – not the broader rights reserved to employee representative bodies. Since this point had not been raised in the original claim, the appeal could not succeed.

7. Unanimity clauses in remote working talks: permissible, but with limits

The Supreme Court has dismissed the Independent Energy Union’s appeal against the Endesa Group. The union challenged mass communications in which the employer made a teleworking agreement conditional on unanimous support from all trade union branches. The Court found no infringement of trade union freedom, holding that the unanimity requirement formed part of a genuine and sustained bargaining process and was a legitimate exercise of the employer’s negotiating position – particularly as an existing teleworking scheme was already in place. The Court nonetheless sounded a broader warning: requiring unanimity as a precondition for the validity of a collective agreement could infringe trade union freedom and undermine collective bargaining, since it would override the majority principle enshrined in the Workers’ Statute and effectively hand a veto to minority unions.

8. Exam leave is paid leave – and collective agreements cannot provide otherwise

The National Court has upheld a claim by the trade union UGT-FICA against the Acciona Energía Group, holding that leave to sit official examinations is paid leave. The Court treated it as comparable to the paid absences listed in article 37.3 of the Workers’ Statute, consistent with the constitutional mandate to promote training. A collective agreement cannot override the paid nature of this type of leave. Workers are therefore entitled to their normal pay while sitting examinations.