The Social Court No. 1 of Logroño, has just issued a sentence that recognizes a woman who worked on rotating shifts in a supermarket, a choose a fixed and reduced work schedule to take care of your child.
For the Labor Union (USO), the sentence represents a very important step for working mothers and fathers, since it clearly establishes the prevalence of the right to care for minor children over any other organizational criteria of the company.
According to Europa Press, the applicant is a woman who has been working for the Champion supermarket chain in rotating shifts since 2007. For a week, from Monday to Saturday, I worked in the morning shift and the next week I changed to the afternoon shift.
By legal guardian of a minor, he requested to reduce his workday from 40 hours per week to 34, also asking for a fixed schedule from 08:00 to 14:00 hours from Monday to Friday, from 10:00 to 14:00 hours on Saturdays and Sundays and holidays that apply.
But the company refused, claiming that for legal and organizational reasons they could not assign a fixed shift and that the day should be reduced by following the rotating shift corresponding to each week.
The woman decided to denounce and a Court of Logroño has proved her right, being able to choose the fixed shift she wants with reduced working hours included. The company will have to abide by the sentence since There is no recourse.
A right of the worker ... and the child
The Court cites a Supreme Court ruling that states that "In cases of reduced working hours by legal guardians, there is a tendency to protect not only the right of workers to reconcile their work and family life, but also the child's own interest in receiving the best possible care."
This it is not the first company bound by the courts to allow family reconciliation of their workers. In 2011 we met through the newspaper El País the case of a man who worked in a special education residence in Palencia, who had requested several times to work in a fixed night shift, in order to combine the rest of the day with the Caring for your children.
After multiple refusals, the Constitutional Court issued a ruling in its favor, reinforcing the duty of protection of the family and children over the organization of work, and preventing labor discrimination on family grounds.
Throughout my professional career I have encountered companies for whom family reconciliation of their workers was "something of others". Companies with tight working hours, compulsory trips on weekends and few or no possibilities of requesting a reduction in working hours without ending up in the spotlight.
Therefore, when cases like these are uncovered, I see the importance that has to all workers continue paddling in the same direction:
enforcing our right to reconcile work and family life,
being able to express ourselves freely in a job interview without fear that our personal situation can condition us,
and, above all, offering our children the possibility of growing up with their parents nearby, while developing our professional career.
Because we have already said it on several occasions, but the solution is not to open more nurseries or lower tuition costs, nor is it that women have to give up our professional career when we become mothers, or have to Do men by becoming fathers.
The initial solution would be to extend paternity and maternity leave to match those of other European countries, allow flexible schedules in companies, and initiate a series of labor reforms that ensure working mothers and fathers have time to also take care of their family.
IStock Photos
Via Europa Press
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