WORKERS in Spain are celebrating after a new court ruling confirmed that public holidays falling on a Saturday cannot simply be lost if Saturday is already a worker’s normal day off.

The decision by the National Court affects a common practice in the customer service center sector, where many companies had refused to compensate staff when a public holiday landed on a Saturday. 

The court has now ruled that workers must receive another day off instead. 

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The case was brought by unions including the Workers’ Trade Union (USO), the General Union of Workers (UGT), the Workers’ Commissions (CCOO) and the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) against the Association of Customer Experience Companies (CEX), which represents firms in the sector. 

Many companies had argued that workers were not entitled to another day off if a public holiday landed on a Saturday, especially when Saturday was already part of their weekly rest period.

But judges said the widespread practice of not compensating workers for these holidays was ‘not in accordance with the law’. 

The court ruled that public holidays cannot be ‘absorbed’ by weekly rest days. 

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Instead, workers must receive an extra paid day off to make up for the lost holiday. The replacement day must be taken within 14 days of the missed holiday.

The decision applies to national, regional and local holidays and could affect thousands of workers across Spain.

It could also have a wider impact beyond the customer service center sector, as unions believe the ruling will apply to other sectors where similar work schedules are used.

The court also said companies may have to compensate workers for lost holidays from previous years, as long as those claims are still within the legal time limit.

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Sara Garcia, secretary of Trade Union Action and Employment at USO explained that the ruling protects every worker’s right to all 14 annual public holidays.

She stressed that “the fourteen annual public holidays must be fully enjoyed by all workers, regardless of their usual working hours”.

The ruling follows an earlier decision by the Supreme Court in April, which confirmed that workers should receive compensation when a public holiday clashes with a fixed rest day.

However, that judgement did not clearly deal with Saturdays, leaving confusion until now.

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