An employee of the Madrid City Council who has worked since 2009 with six temporary contracts will be permanent staff. The Supreme Court agrees with him because in 2005 he had passed the opposition but did not get a place due to the cut-off mark.
The ruling, handed down this same May 11 by the Supreme Court, establishes a new doctrine with effect on thousands of public employees. The Plenary Session of the Social Chamber limits the fixity to a very specific profile. It only applies to the worker who has passed a selective process and has been left without a place solely because other candidates obtained a higher grade.
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As detailed in the sentence, the woman is an operator of the municipal sports facilities of the Madrid City Council. She started working in 2009 with an interim contract to replace a colleague.
From there he signed five other temporary contracts. Two covered work peaks in swimming pools and sports centers. The remaining three were temporary to fill vacancies that the City Council had not yet awarded definitively. In 2022 he demanded permanent tenure, after thirteen years in that same situation.
He passed the opposition but was left without a place
In 2005, the Madrid City Council had called a competition to fill 184 permanent positions in its category. The operator showed up and got 21.56 points over the minimum of 20 that the call required.
Other candidates got better marks and kept the places. On the contrary, the worker continued to have temporary contracts with the same City Council, without the City Council calling new competitions to fill those vacancies permanently.
The Plenary of the Supreme Court has spoken for the first time after the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union of April 14, known as the Obadal case. The automatic tenure of all interim public sector employees clashes with the constitutional principles of equality, merit and capacity, and that is why the general rule does not change.
The novelty is the exception that is now introduced. If the worker had already passed a selective test that accredits his merit and capacity, conversion to permanent personnel does not contravene the Constitution.
Compensation of up to 10,000 euros for other cases
For the rest of the abused interims, those who did not pass an opposition, the sentence rules out permanent tenure. Instead, the Administration must pay them reparatory compensation. The amount ranges between 1,000 and 10,000 euros depending on the case, in application of the scale of sanctions for serious infractions. It is added to the ordinary compensation for termination of contract.
It is not calculated on the worker’s salary. It is compensation for accumulated professional and moral damage. If the affected party proves greater damages, the amount may exceed 10,000 euros.
How it affects those who are in the same situation
That is now the big question that thousands of interim workers in public administrations are asking and who share the same or similar situation to that of the Madrid City Council worker. In this chaos, the sentence opens two different paths depending on each case.
Anyone who has passed an opposition without obtaining a place and then has suffered successive contracts can request permanent employment before a Social Court. Anyone who has not gone through an opposition, but has accumulated years of abusive contracts, can claim remedial compensation. In both cases, the court must transfer the ruling to the Labor Inspection to open disciplinary proceedings against the administration.
The Madrid City Council worker will be left without the extra compensation because in her claim she only requested permanent employment. Those who litigate from now on must claim both things in the same procedure.