The National Court has established that holidays that coincide with the weekly rest on Saturday must be compensated and give the right to enjoy an additional day of rest. This is set out in a ruling that responds to the collective conflict raised against the agreement of the customer service center sector (“contact center”).
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In the resolution, the National Court sides with several unions in different claims filed against the Association of Customer Experience Companies (CEX). The ruling of the social chamber of the National Court declares as “not lawful” the widespread practice of companies in the “contact center” sector of not compensating working holidays “when the effective provision of services takes place from Monday to Friday or Monday to Saturday and the holiday coincides with Saturday, where the weekly rest is set.”
In this regard, it declares the right of workers that working holidays “are not absorbed or neutralized by the weekly rest,” recognizing the employer’s obligation to grant an additional day of effective rest when there is an overlap between the holiday and the day off. Likewise, the ruling states that the compensation must be enjoyed within a period not exceeding 14 days and that companies are obliged to compensate these unused holidays retroactively from the non-prescribed period.
Ruling
The resolution is extendable to all sectors, according to USO
USO has stated in a communiqué that the resolution, which it understands to be extendable to all sectors, “generally consolidates the judicial doctrine that prevents companies from making holidays disappear through work schedules.” “The fourteen annual holidays must be fully enjoyed by all workers, regardless of their usual working hours,” said USO’s Secretary of Union Action and Employment, Sara García. “Now, after the confusion of previous rulings, it will be a right extended to all workers, without overlaps or cuts,” she added.
The Supreme Court already established in a ruling on April 30, 2025, the criteria regarding the overlap of weekly rest with a holiday, but without specifying anything regarding Saturdays. That Supreme Court ruling declared that workers with a Monday to Sunday schedule, with the weekly rest established on a fixed day between Monday and Friday, have the right that when the rest coincides with a working holiday, they are compensated and can enjoy another day of rest for that holiday.
