Spain: The Supreme Court rules that compensation for unfair dismissal cannot be increased by the courts
It rejected the binding nature of decisions issued by the European Committee of Social Rights, which has considered that the current Spanish legislation breaches the European Social Charter.
The Plenary Session of the Labor Chamber of the Supreme Court has issued a judgment establishing that the compensation for unfair dismissal provided for in article 56.1 of the Workers’ Statute cannot be increased in court proceedings. In doing so, the Court confirmed that the national legislation does not contravene the provisions of article 10 of ILO Convention No. 158, nor article 24 of the Revised European Social Charter, both of which require adequate protection against dismissal although they do not stipulate a specific amount.
The Supreme Court clarified that, although these international provisions require compensation to be “adequate,” they are not directly applicable within the Spanish legal system. Consequently, they do not create rights that can be directly enforced before Spanish courts, nor should they be interpreted in such a way as to consider the statutory compensation provided for in the Workers’ Statute to be insufficient.
It should be noted that, recently, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) issued a decision against Spain, finding that Spanish legislation on compensation for unfair dismissal breached the European Social Charter by establishing a limited remedy through fixed compensation. However, the Supreme Court’s judgment has now concluded that the decisions of the ECSR are neither enforceable nor directly applicable between private parties, unlike the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights or the Court of Justice of the European Union. Furthermore, the Supreme Court stated that the ECSR is not a judicial body, nor are its decisions judgments; they are not binding, even for the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe itself, nor for the domestic courts of each Member State.
In conclusion, the Court has clarified, in the interests of legal certainty, that it is not appropriate to apply criteria other than the statutory compensation set out in article 56.1 of the Workers’ Statute, such as the particular circumstances of each case that might justify an increase in the amount. These conclusions of the Supreme Court are in line with those adopted by other European courts, such as the French Supreme Court and the Italian Constitutional Court.
The Supreme Court’s press release can be read on its official website. The full text of the judgment will be published in the coming days.
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