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The law considers it 'transfer' in sending a worker away for 12 months in three years

| News | Employment Law and Social Security

Alfredo Aspra analyses if it is transfer and not temporary displacement if a worker is assigned to different work centres for more than 12 months in three years

The High Court of Justice in Madrid establishes that there is transfer and not temporary displacement if a worker is assigned to different work centres for more than 12 months in three years. "For a worker to be itinerant, this must be stated in the contract. And when he is posted to different places, all periods are counted and the limitations imposed by the Workers' Statute on geographical transfers must be applied," it said in a ruling of 8 April 2018.

The worker concerned refused to be transferred to Saudi Arabia for seven months and informed his company accordingly. As he did not agree, despite the fact that his contract stated that he agreed to be transferred or temporarily displaced when required by the company, he requested the termination of his contract and compensation for 20 days' salary. The company informed him of the disciplinary dismissal, for disobedience of the order to travel to Saudi Arabia and for unjustified absence from work, as he stopped going to work after communicating his wish to terminate the contract.

Alfredo Aspra, Partner of the Labour Area of Andersen Tax & Legal, states that the ruling explains that for the purposes of determining whether the company has itinerant workers in mobile centres, and that one thing is that a company can sign a contract whose execution must be carried out outside the ordinary work centre and involves the occasional displacement of the workers who participate in its execution, and another is to consider that these workers do not have a fixed or habitual centre and are itinerant.

You can read the full article in El Economista

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