Supreme Court 2025: Null Dismissal for Anti-Union Retaliation and Discrimination
Analysis of 2025 Supreme Court and Constitutional Court rulings on null dismissal: anti-union retaliation, pregnancy discrimination, long-term illness and exercise of fundamental rights.
# Supreme Court 2025: Null Dismissal for Anti-Union Retaliation and Discrimination
Null dismissal is Spain's most severe employment law sanction: the worker is entitled to immediate reinstatement and back pay (Art. 55.6 ET). The 2025 TS doctrine has clarified the main grounds.
Key grounds for null dismissal in Spain
1. Anti-union retaliation: Any dismissal temporally proximate to the exercise of union rights triggers a rebuttable presumption of fundamental rights violation. The employer must prove objective cause (burden reversal per Art. 28 CE).
2. Pregnancy dismissal: Automatically null without requiring employer knowledge of pregnancy (CJEU 26 Feb 2008; STS 17 Oct 2008). Exception: employer proves dismissal would have occurred regardless.
3. Long-term illness as disability: Following CJEU Daouidi (1 Dec 2016), dismissal during prolonged sick leave may be discriminatory disability dismissal if the condition has uncertain long-term prognosis. Not automatic; requires medical evidence of long-term limitation.
4. Indemnity guarantee: Dismissal following a worker's judicial or administrative claim is null for violating Art. 24 CE right to effective judicial protection (STS 18 Oct 2021).
Effect of nullity: reinstatement + full back pay from dismissal to reinstatement.
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