Going to the hairdresser or putting bracelets is not enough for Mercadona to dismiss you

An employee who had been working as a manager in Mercadona for more than twenty years had to face a complicated situation when, in August 2023, he began A medical leave For anxiety.

While it is true that there are certain activities that a person on a medical leave should not do, the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León has had to remind Mercadona to go to the hairdresser or get bracelets is not sufficient reason for A disciplinary dismissal.

Spied on the super. As detailed In the sentencethe farewell employee worked as a manager in a Mercadona de León supermarket since 2001. In 2023, she took a medical leave for anxiety. After a few months, Mercadona hired A private detective agency To monitor their daily activities while he was ongoing.

In the report, the detectives recorded that the worker had gone to the hairdresser, wore bracelets and rings, spoke on the phone and had even made purchases in a Lidl supermarket of cleaning products and detergents.

Farewell by allergic? At all times, the company had linked all these activities with an alleged allergyTo metals such as nickel and chromium, present on the bracelets, in smartphones, in elements of the hair washing area, etc., as well as chemicals present in cleaning products.

According to the allegations of the company “it has superior respiratory tract hypersensitivity by general immune irritative reaction due to awareness of irritating agents present in the work environment.”

The daily activities of the employee, so normal to anyone, were interpreted by the company as a “lack of will to take care” and a reason for Unjustified extension of its temporal disability. According to the company, the use of jewelry and contact with chrome surfaces were “behavior incompatible with their healing process.” So the company declared “that the employee was acting in bad faith” and that “she had lost her trust”, so he applied a disciplinary dismissal. At this point, it should be remembered that the reason for the medical leave It was for anxiety.

The judicial reaction: it has anxiety, not allergy. The Social Court No. 1 of León initially gave the reason to Mercadona, but the employee appealed the sentence and raised it to the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León (TSJCyL), which corrected the company’s performance strongly.

The court criticized that they were considered “activities that compromise the healing” completely everyday actions such as going to the hairdressing, carrying bracelets or making the purchase. In addition, the ruling highlighted the contradiction between the diagnosis of anxiety that justified the decrease and argumentation of the dismissal focused on reasons related to respiratory pathologies caused by supposed chemical sensitivity.

TSJCyL: One More Thing. The TSJCyl judgment not only declared the disciplinary dismissal inadmissible, but declared it void, considering that it occurred in a clearly repressive context.

The worker had denounced deficiencies in the prevention of occupational hazards before her medical decline. Therefore, a violation was evidenced to the right to non -discrimination due to disability and compensation guaranteethat is, the right not to suffer from Exercise labor rightsinterpreting the dismissal of the employee as a revenge that had nothing to do with her medical recovery.

The sentence. The Superior Court has dismissed the decision of the Social Court No. 1 of León that in the first instance gave the reason to Mercadona, and goes on to condemn the company to readmit to the worker in your job and with the same conditions and pay for back salaries from the discharge of temporary disability after dismissal, at a rate of 2,089.58 euros per month.

In addition, you must pay compensation of 7,500 euros for damages.

In Xataka | 55,245 euros for eating a sandwich and a beer: Mercadona must compensate an employee for unfair dismissal

Image | Wikimedia Commons (LBM1948), Unspash (Farhad Ibrahimzade)