A judge partially upholds the claim of a BBVA employee who had requested an adaptation of the working day

MADRID, 26 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Social Court No. 4 of Bilbao has partially upheld a claim by a BBVA employee who had asked the bank for the possibility of adapting her working hours, without loss of salary or change of office, something to which the bank opposed, alleging "impossibility" due to "organizational needs", according to the sentence to which Europa Press has had access.

The worker, who has sued the entity, has the category of personal banking manager and has been in service for more than 20 years. Since May 2021 he had a reduced working day, for which he worked 31 hours in winter and approximately 30 hours in summer, although he requested at the beginning of last March the adaptation of his working day to 37 hours in winter and 35 hours in summer. summer from June 15. The request was "rejected by BBVA" on April 5.

Specifically, he had requested to adapt his working day to a full one, but with continuous hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Fridays, in winter, and from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in summer, compared to the hours of special financial services that, in general, contemplate a split day from Monday to Thursday in winter.

In summer, it is possible to adapt the day to a continuous schedule from Monday to Friday. The request for this schedule would be until your minor child "turns 16 years old."

In addition, the sentence indicates that four other employees of the same office have continuous hours from 08:00 to 15:00.

However, BBVA opposed the request alleging the "impossibility of meeting the request of the worker based on her organizational needs." It affirmed that this employee is the "only staff" of the office that provides services in the afternoon, as it is "the only one that has specific training" to attend to "high-value clients", who require personalized advice by the afternoon.

The court recalls, however, that article 34.8 of the Workers' Statute includes the right of workers to request adaptations to the duration and distribution of the working day. "These adaptations must be reasonable and proportionate to the needs of the worker and the organizational or productive needs of the company," the statute states.

The ruling states that, from the evidence collected, it appears that the worker has worked a schedule "very similar" to the one requested, "without this having caused greater damage to the defendant entity." In addition, it indicates that, when the employee has not been able to attend to a client in the afternoon, the director of the office has been in charge of carrying out that task.

In such a way that it partially estimates the demand, since, "being managed by prior appointment, and it is not the task of third parties to assume tasks that are typical of the worker, we consider that the rights of the parties are correctly safeguarded by providing one day to the week afternoon in winter time".

From CGT they point out that this ruling means that you can request the adaptation of the working day to family needs, in order to facilitate conciliation, "provided that it is duly justified." In addition, the union celebrates that the judge has recognized this right "until your child reaches the age of 16", as well as that it is a final sentence, "without possible recourse".

On the other hand, the National High Court recently partially upheld a CGT claim against the bank's working hours registration system.

This supposes that the bank must eliminate the 'a posteriori' authorization of a superior so that the 'overtime' hours are recognized as work, and not personal time.