A Spanish worker with almost three decades of seniority has seen his career interrupted abruptly. He was fired after accusations of alcohol consumption during work hours, but the case did not end there. The court evaluated the circumstances and eventually contradicted the company’s decision.
The story began in September 2021, when the employee received a letter of disciplinary dismissal. In it, the employer was talking about “reiterated and reiterated consumption of large amounts of alcohol during work hours”.
The report and the accusation
The company’s accusation was supported by a report prepared by a private detective. The document described episodes in which the worker would have bought and drunk beer in works by Murcia and Cartagena, during the breaks for lunch, reveals the online newspaper Spanish News Work.
The same report detailed the intake of beers in liter bottles and said that sometimes consumption was shared with colleagues. The company argued that this behavior endangered safety as the worker driving corporate vehicles.
The legal basis for dismissal
The employer was supported by Article 54.2 of the Spanish Workers Statute. The standard provides for the dismissal for “transgression of good contractual faith and abuse of trust in work performance”.
In addition, he also pointed out the “usual or toxicomania drunkenness that negatively reverberates at work” as a reason for the decision. The employee did not accept this version and decided to contest the decision, explains the same source.
First court decision
In the first instance, the court gave reason to the company. The judge understood that the facts described in the letter corresponded to a break from the necessary confidence in the labor relationship.
The decision thus validated the dismissal, but the worker appealed, claiming that the effect of alcohol on the performance of the functions was not proved.
The case arrived at the Murcia Superior Court of Justice. Here, the judges analyzed differently the evidence presented. “It is not possible to establish the beer that consumed the worker, which does not appear to affect him for nothing in his productive conduct,” said the judgment.
The lack of objective evidence
The court stressed that there was no indication that the worker had exceeded the legal limits of alcohol. It was also not shown that it had driven under the influence of alcohol or that its performance had been harmed.
Another relevant point was the comparison with another employee involved in the same episodes. In this case, the company applied only a 20 -day suspension without salary. The judgment questioned the difference in treatment: “For the same reason, the company imposed two different sanctions,” says the.
Reclassification of infraction
The Court said that, according to the region’s collective contract, situations such as the described correspond to a serious misconduct and not a very serious absence. That is, there was not sufficient basis to apply the most severe sanction provided for by labor law, which is the disciplinary dismissal.
The Superior Court concluded that there was no ground for maintaining the accusation of breach of good faith contractual. “The worker’s conduct did not reach enough gravity,” the decision stressed. Thus, the dismissal was declared unfounded.
Consequences for the company
The company was ordered to reintegrate the worker or pay him compensation of 47,028.60 euros. If you choose to read, you will still have to settle the salaries corresponding to the period in which the process took place. The decision represents a victory for the employee, who sought to the end to contest the prosecution.
The parallel with Portugal
In Portugal, the Labor Code also provides for dismissal for just cause in cases of alcohol consumption. However, it requires that there is a direct and proven impact on the performance of the function or safety.
Portuguese jurisprudence also values the proportionality of the sanction, distinguishing between serious absences and situations that justify the definitive removal.
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