Denial of bonuses in cleaning contracts after the transferring of employees by collective agreement (Judgment of the Supreme Court (Contentious-Administrative) of 14th November 2017)

Abstract

The transferring of employees is compulsory for contractor companies when it is laid down in the collective agreement of the sector concerned. This mechanism is considered a benefit that protects and creates employment stability. Such obligation achieves the transferring of the successor company in the contracts of the affected workers, remaining the contractual relationship unchanged, thus these contracts will not be new ones. This implies that the right to receive hiring bonuses from the incoming contractor company will be lost, since there will not be new contracts but only a change of employer. Such denial is confirmed by the High Court under the provisions of the Royal Legislative Decree 3/2014 of 28^th February. However, the reasoning of the Court must be founded on the doctrine established by the Labour Court, which is unavoidable in the conflict caused by a safeguarding and odd mechanism: the transferring of employees by agreement.