The supreme court upholds the employer's request for a generic justification of trade union working time credit ruling 4101/2025
On 18 September 2025, the Social Division of the Supreme Court handed down Ruling 4101/2025, in which it confirmed that companies can request a generic justification for the use of union time credit without infringing trade union freedom, provided that they do so in a reasonable and fair manner.
In this case, the defendant company had asked all the unions for a general explanation of the use of union hours for the first quarter of 2023. While the other unions provided generic justifications, one particular union refused to do so and the company opened disciplinary proceedings against several of its delegates.
After the initial dismissal by the Supreme Court of Extremadura, the Supreme Court confirms that the company's action was neutral, proportional and non-discriminatory. The court recalls that the time credit is in the nature of paid leave, subject to the requirements of prior notice and justification, although this may be general and without revealing details of the trade union activity.
The core of the ruling focuses on whether such a request for justification can be considered an unlawful interference with trade union freedom. The Supreme Court concludes that it cannot, as the company acted in a neutral and proportionate manner, applying the same requirement to all unions and limiting itself to requesting a general explanation of the use of union time. Only an excessive or detailed requirement could be interpreted as an infringement of the fundamental right.
The judgment concludes:
"In short, the justification required could constitute a limitation of rights and a possible interference with the fundamental right to trade union freedom in the case of a rigorous and exhaustive justification of the use of trade union time credit that, in some way, would curtail the freedom of the trade union to exercise its trade union functions. Art. 37.3 ET itself does not establish any additional requirement as to the greater or lesser degree of specificity that the justification required must contain. It seems reasonable to understand that it is sufficient to indicate to the employer the generic purpose for which the time used is intended, which has occurred in the present case in view of the "very generic" justifications, in the appellant's words, but which nevertheless served the employer for the purposes requested. Such a requirement neither prevents nor restricts the free performance of its representative functions, as evidenced by the fact that other trade unions concerned by the same communication had provided "very" generic justifications for the use of such time credit without consequences, and is in line with the legislator's aim of preventing the unlawful use of such time credit".
In short, the ruling establishes that the request for justification of the use of union hours does not infringe the right to freedom of association when it is applied in a general and reasonable manner, consolidating the criterion that company control of time credits, within proportional limits, is compatible with the legitimate exercise of trade union activity.
Article written by ECIJA Madrid Labour Law Department.
