August 15 is a date marked every year in the work calendar, one of the holidays shared by all the autonomous communities. This year it falls on a Saturday. According to a ruling handed down by the National Court and known this Wednesday, companies must compensate it if it overlaps with the worker’s weekly rest. The ruling, which can be appealed to the Supreme Court, responds to a conflict between several unions and the Association of Customer Experience Companies (CEX), the employer of customer service centers. However, it opens the way for the same logic to extend to many other sectors.
The ruling declares as “not in accordance with the law” the “generalized” practice of companies in the sector of “not establishing compensation for work holidays with previously assigned weekly rest days or leave.” It specifies that the scenario analyzed refers to “when the effective provision of services occurs from Monday to Friday or from Monday to Saturday and the holiday coincides with Saturday, with their weekly rest set there.” That is, when the holiday falls on a Saturday.
Given this scenario, the Social Chamber of the National Court declares the right of workers “to work holidays, recognizing the business obligation to grant an additional day of effective rest when the two coincide or overlap.”
“It is true that there is no rule that imposes the enjoyment of compensation in that period, but if we take into account that at the beginning of each year the national and regional holidays are already known, it would not make sense for workers whose rest does not coincide with a holiday on a Saturday to be able to enjoy such compensation while those whose rest does coincide have their compensation day delayed at the discretion of the company and for an indeterminate period,” the ruling highlights.
The court maintains that the ruling analyzes the situation in the customer service sector. underlines that the “direct effects” of the ruling are limited to those companies, but at the same time qualifies: “It may have scope beyond this sector and serve to review similar situations in other areas of activity, especially when holidays coincide with days off without effective compensation.” This practice is also common in commerce or hospitality. The USO union goes further and interprets that “with this resolution, the judicial doctrine that prevents companies from making holidays disappear through work quadrants is generally consolidated.”
The compensation, as established by the National Court, must be given in a period of no more than two weeks. “No worker should miss holidays because of the way the company organizes the calendar. The 14 annual holidays must be fully enjoyed by all workers, regardless of their usual day,” says Sara García, Secretary of Union Action and Employment at USO, in statements provided by the union.
CC OO specifies that as two differentiated concepts, with different purposes. “The weekly rest protects the occupational health and recovery of the worker, while holidays guarantee the enjoyment of dates of special civic, religious or social relevance. Therefore, it is not possible for a holiday to be absorbed by the weekly rest when both coincide,” reflects the union.
Specifically, the union organizations support their collective conflict demands – which have been resolved in just two months from the first one presented by USO on April 13 to the ruling issued this Monday, May 19, previously going through an attempt at conciliation – in a ruling handed down in April 2025 by the high court on the “overlapping of the weekly rest” in the Zara textile chain. Although CEX alleged that the cases were not comparable, the court considers that they are because the Supreme Court uses that specific issue to “reiterate” doctrine.
Thus, it concludes that the “general principle” is that holidays that coincide with the weekly rest must be considered not enjoyed and must be compensated. “This overlap must be avoided, regardless of the adjustments that must be made in the preparation of the annual calendars,” the National Court decides.
