Legal Remedies When Facing an Unfair Dismissal Ruling in Spain
In this article, we discuss the type of legal procedure a company in Spain can use when a court’s decision qualifying a dismissal as unfair has damaged a company.
As covered in a previous article, when the Judge of Social Affairs rules in favour of the worker, thus qualifying the dismissal as unfair, the company that contests this decision and does not wish to reinstate the worker must:
- Notify in a five-day period its intention NOT to reinstate the worker. In the event the worker concerned is the workers’ representative, the worker will adopt this decision and not the company.
- File an appeal.
Articles 190 and those that follow of the Law on Social Jurisdiction regulate the appeal.
Before Whom Must a Company File the Appeal?
A company must file the appeal with the Labour Chambers of the High Court of Justice.
How to File an Appeal?
- First, during the five-day period following the notification of the decision, the company concerned by it must announce the appeal before the Judge of Social Affairs that rendered the judgment in the first instance. This time limit is not extendable.
- Once the company announces the appeal to the Judge, the appeal is communicated to the lawyer designated during such announcement so that the lawyer can file the appeal in a period of ten (10) days. The delivery of the proceedings can occur either materially or in electronic form. If they delivered materially, they must be returned within the same time indicated previously. If they are not returned during this time, the breaching party can be punished with a fine of 20,00€ to 200,00€.
- If the appeal is timely and proper, and if the potential defects have received appropriate attention, the Secretary will allow the appeal, and the other parties will have five (5) working days to contest it.
- Once the answer is submitted, the proceedings will be delivered to the Labour Chamber of the High Court of Justice in a period of two (2) days.
- Once the Labour Chamber receives the appeal, and if there are no defects or omissions needing attention, or if defects exist but have been corrected in a five-day period, a new date will be scheduled for the deliberation, voting, and ruling that may:
- Be in favour of the appeal,
- Dismiss the appeal.
If the company receives a dismissal decision again, it will have the opportunity to file another appeal. In this case, the Supreme Court hears the second appeal.
As we can see, in Spain a company concerned by a court’s decision in the first instance is not left unprotected. These companies can use various judicial proceedings before the judgment acquires the authority of a final decision.
Monika Bertram
