The Supreme Court confirms that breakfast and 15 minutes of courtesy at the entrance are effective work

He High Council has ratified in a judgement that he breakfast time and that of start day registrationimmediately margin free until 15 minutesmust be considered as time worked.

In a ruling dated March 5, the social court upheld the appeals of UGT, CCOO and SECB in response to a ruling by the National Court of October 2020 that has consequences for CaixaBank’s staff.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court understands that effective working time should be considered as the working time that elapses within 15 minutes after the time set for the start of the working day, for employees who have a “rigid schedule control” and do not have the category of bosses or assimilated.

She also rejects the business appeal and reserves the right to count breakfast time as effective working time, as can be deduced from the agreements prior to the introduction of working day registration.

In an earlier ruling, the Supreme Court had recommended that companies prepare a guide with the precise guidelines to activate the recording of working hours.

In the present case, CaixaBank prepared this manual and believed that the recording of the day should be a faithful representation of reality, so that the minutes could no longer be considered as actually worked after the start time.

But the Supreme Court understands that anyone who arrives at work within 15 minutes of the start time of the day is entitled to have their registration completed on time.