An agent of the Urban Guard of Barcelona claims that his leave days for seniority should be calculated as full days of 10, 12, or 15 hours, not 8. The Supreme Court has admitted the appeal from the City Council, which warns of a million-euro cost.
The Supreme Court will determine whether agents of the Urban Guard of Barcelona with special shifts are entitled to have their leave days for seniority calculated based on the actual duration of their shifts, rather than the standard eight hours applied by the City Council. The high court has accepted the cassation appeal filed by the council against a ruling from the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) that ruled in favour of an agent.
The case began in September 2020, when an urban guard assigned to units with shifts of 10, 12, or 15 hours daily requested the City Council of Barcelona to recognise additional leave days for personal matters related to his seniority. The agent invoked the thirteenth additional provision of the consolidated text of the Basic Statute of Public Employees, which allows administrations to grant these extra days upon completing certain triennials.
The usual practice of the council is to calculate these leave days as eight-hour shifts, regardless of the actual duration of the agent's shift. However, the police officer argues that the leave should be granted for full days, meaning that if he works 12 hours, the day off should equate to 12 hours. Otherwise, he argues, it creates discrimination against employees with standard hours.
The Administrative Court number 4 of Barcelona initially dismissed the agent's claim in a ruling from October 2021, considering the City Council's formula to be correct. But in October 2024, the Administrative Chamber of the TSJC overturned that decision and upheld the urban guard's appeal. The regional court argued that the right to additional leave is linked to seniority, not to the working hours, and therefore must be granted for full days “regardless of their duration in hours.”
The City Council of Barcelona then appealed to the Supreme Court, which has accepted the appeal and will rule on the controversy. In its preparatory document, the council warns of the economic risks and comparative grievance that would arise from ruling in favour of the agent. According to the municipal legal representation, “granting a full day of 10 or 15 hours would be discriminatory for the rest of the staff who work standard shifts, as the former would enjoy a greater number of hours of annual rest for the same seniority concept.”
The council emphasises that, although some agents have different schedules, they all work the same annual time: 1,519 hours, with slight variations. Therefore, an agent with 12-hour shifts who receives a full day off would be enjoying up to double the actual rest hours compared to another with an 8-hour shift for the same seniority concept. The council estimates that if the TSJC's criterion were to be generalised, the cost to municipal coffers could reach one million euros annually.
The Supreme Court's ruling will set a precedent and will affect not only the Urban Guard but all municipal employees with special schedules. The council hopes that the high court will support its interpretation and avoid what it considers a comparative grievance and a significant economic impact. The agent, for his part, maintains that his claim is in accordance with the law and that the leave should be granted on the same terms as any other official: for a full day worked.
The case has generated anticipation among police unions, which are closely following the evolution of the litigation. Meanwhile, the Urban Guard of Barcelona continues to apply the eight-hour calculation for leave days due to seniority, awaiting the Supreme Court's decision.
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