Validity of collective dismissal and complete rejection of union challenge SAN 4385/2025
The National Court has dismissed FIST's claim and confirmed the full validity of the collective dismissal agreed at Concentrix Spain BPO, which affected 122 workers at various centres. The union alleged age discrimination, abusive incentives for protected groups, insufficient documentation, lack of cause and circumvention of the procedure through previous objective dismissals.
The Chamber, however, endorsed the process and the agreement reached by 84.22% of the social representation, emphasising that the existence of a majority agreement gives greater weight to the concurrence of causes and the fulfilment of obligations during the consultation period.
The National Court rejects the allegation of discrimination for excluding people over 55 from the redundancy plan, pointing out that the measure responds to a legitimate objective: to protect a group at greater risk of long-term unemployment and greater difficulties in finding new employment. It also points out that the criterion is proportional and is supported by constitutional doctrine and the Supreme Court.
Nor does it find discrimination in the higher compensation set for vulnerable groups (single-parent families, disability, gender violence, pregnancy, etc.). The National Court affirms that there is no pejorative treatment whatsoever and that the higher compensation responds to reasons of material justice and does not imply an illegal incentive to promote departures.
Regarding the alleged lack of documentation, the Chamber considers that FIST did not prove that the omitted information was relevant or that it prevented proper negotiation, especially when the consultation period ended with an agreement and the company provided technical reports and customer communications that justified the service reductions.
Finally, the court confirms that there were sufficient productive and organisational reasons: loss of contracts (Mango, Stradivarius, Bershka) and substantial reductions in others (Wallapop, Bose, Wallbox, GE Healthcare), as evidenced by customer communications.
Consequently, the National Court dismissed the claim in its entirety and declared the collective dismissal to be in accordance with the law.
"Having conducted a period of consultation and having verified the justifiable cause for the dismissal, it is appropriate to issue a ruling dismissing the claim and declaring the termination decision to be in accordance with the law (Art. 124.11, paragraph 2 of the LRJS)".
Article written by the Employment Law Department of ECIJA Madrid.
