The court in Santiago determines that paid leave starts counting from the first working day

Workers have the right to have the calculation of their paid leave start “from the first working day”, when “the causative event occurs on a non-working day”. This was declared by the Social Court number 4 of Santiago within the framework of the collective agreement for hospitalization, assistance, consultation and laboratories for clinical analysis of health institutions, in a ruling following a lawsuit filed by the CIG center against the practice of the Compostela La polyclinic. Rose garden.

The union explained that it had spent years trying, without success, to negotiate with the company the calculation formula included in article 14 of the collective agreement for private health in the province of A Coruña, citing circumstances such as hospitalizations, accidents, deaths of relatives or weddings, among other things, for which he resorted to a joint commission and out-of-court proceedings and complained to the court due to a misunderstanding.

The decision established that paid leave is approved and used on working days, that the calculation cannot start on the same day as the causative event when it occurs on a non-working day for the worker, nor can it be counted in natural days. The decision adds, according to CIG, that the days on which the employee was not required to work are excluded from the calculation of the total duration of the shortened permits.

In the case of hospitalization or surgery of a family member, the court determines – states the headquarters – that the worker can use leave whenever he wants, during the duration of the hospital treatment, without the obligation to do so in the first days or consecutively. You understand that the permit can be extended for vacation time at home.

Ana Varela, trade union delegate, positively evaluated the resolution, because “we had to start on a day off, they counted it the same, and also they always make us take permits on consecutive days». The sentence can serve as a basis for establishing a general and unique criterion when interpreting how the rest of the paid licenses will be calculated in the future.