The reconciliation of professional and personal life is one of the aspects most valued by workers, but nevertheless it remains a pending subject. Many parents have to juggle in order to match school hours and jobs "thanks" to extracurricular activities or extended center hours.
The good news is that every time we hear more cases in which justice gives the right to dads or moms who seek to realize the compatibility of fatherhood and employment, such as that of ONE soldier to whom justice has proved right and not He will have to make guards or maneuvers to take care of his daughter.
The Spaniards work longer hours than the Germans, French or English with pause days to eat longer and late departure times which makes it difficult to reconcile and that is why for years there are different organizations such as the National Commission for the Rationalization of Timetables in Spain (ARHOE) who denounce this situation.
The soldier M.C. He rejoined his maternity leave in January 2016 and got a permit to get to the barracks every day at 8.30. Recovering his workday in an hour, he managed to leave the child in the nursery, in exchange for cutting his salary by 15%, leaving him at approximately 900 euros per month. What he could not get rid of was the 24-hour guards, participating in exercises outside the base or attending the patron saint's celebration or sports races.
These situations led to M.C. to the courts last November to study his case and already a judge of the administrative litigation of Murcia sentenced that the soldier had the right to be exempted from guards, services and maneuvers to attend to his two-year-old daughter. In fact, the law is on your side because according to a defense order, the military in charge of children under 12 years of age are entitled to reduced working hours, with the proportional decrease in their salaries. But if in addition, the child is less than four years old, they must be exempted from guards, services, maneuvers and other activities “that interfere with the enjoyment of the reduction in working hours, when the needs of the service permit”.
Now it has been the Superior Court of Justice of Murcia that has supported the decision of this judge, dismissing the appeal that the Ministry of Defense filed against that judicial resolution and imposed the costs of the process on the Administration. Thanks to this sentence, you can enjoy your daughter and continue working normally.
It is not an isolated case
If we remember, we find other "historical" cases. We all know the supermarket hours and that employees usually rotate. This is already contrary to a reconciliation plan. This must have been the employee of a super from Logroño who had alternate shifts in the morning and in the afternoon.
Specifically the woman has an indefinite contract full-time with a 40-hour weekly week from Monday to Saturday, with one week in the morning shift and the next in the afternoon shift. He asked his company to reduce his workday to 34 hours per week with a fixed schedule from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the corresponding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10 am to 2 pm. The company denied it.
Finally, the Supreme Court gave him the reason, arguing that in cases of reduced working hours by legal guardians, there is a tendency to "protect not only the right of workers to reconcile their work and family life, but also the child's own interest to receive the best possible attention. "
Another case that deserves to be counted is that of a civil guard of the Comandancia Abulense who requested the reduction of working hours in the morning, with the proportional loss of his salary, in order to attend to his two minor children. The response of the Armed Institute was positive to the reduction requested, but was denied the possibility of having a fixed day from half past eight in the morning to half past one in the afternoon.
Finally, a judgment of the Contentious-Administrative Court of Ávila proved him right granting the reduction in working hours which he requested, which he will be able to do compatible with the fixed morning shift and free weekends to reconcile his work and personal life.
There is much to do
Despite these advances, the reality is that much remains to be done in our country. It all starts with maternal and paternal leave. In our country the women have 16 weeks of leave and men with 5 weeks per child, being among the lowest in Europe and far from the average permit in the European Union of 28 weeks.
These reconciliation problems dramatically influence the number of children we have and the age at which we decided to have them. He average number of children per woman is 1.33 and the average age is 31.9 years, according to the National Statistics Institute.
The main problem is found in the long working hours for which many companies are looking for solutions such as telecommuting or time flexibility. Others, however, are committed to intensive days throughout the year, breaking the myth that "face-to-face" is linked to greater production.
Without a doubt, there is a long way to go, but it is a fact that more and more companies are betting on family reconciliation. Is your company one of them?
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