Until recently, it was common for companies to consider a public holiday as a compensatory holiday (the worker already had a day off) and not offer any additional days off. This practice left some employees without really enjoying the public holiday, unlike their colleagues who rest on Sunday and do not miss any public holidays in their work calendar.
Public holidays and cumulative holidays: the Supreme Court's decision
The Social Chamber of the Supreme Court, in Judgment 372/2025 of April 30, 2025, ruled in favor of the affected workers. The Court overturned the previous decision of the TSJ of Madrid and established that if a public holiday coincides with an employee's weekly rest, that person must be granted an additional day of rest in compensation. In other words, public holidays are not "consumed" by overlapping with the rest day: they must be enjoyed cumulatively, either on another equivalent day off or through economic compensation according to agreement.
The Supreme Court emphasizes that the enjoyment of public holidays is an autonomous and inalienable right, different from the ordinary weekly rest. Allowing the overlap of public holidays and rest without compensation implied discrimination between workers: those who work conventional hours (resting on Sundays) enjoyed all public holidays, while those who rested on another day lost days off compared to their colleagues. Therefore, the ruling reinforces the principle that public holidays are cumulative rights and obliges companies to guarantee their effective enjoyment without undermining weekly rest.
Impact on work planning and work schedules
The doctrine established by this ruling obliges companies to rethink their work schedules and shift planning. In fact, the Supreme Court urges companies to review work schedules to avoid these overlaps and to update internal agreements or conventions to incorporate this compensation guarantee. Especially in the trade and services sector —where it is common to work on public holidays— it will be necessary to ensure that no employee misses a public holiday because they have their weekly rest on that day.
In practice, the company will have to plan a compensatory day off close to the public holiday, or pay the corresponding financial compensation, according to the applicable agreement. Omitting this obligation can lead to serious sanctions, with fines of up to €7,500 for non-compliance.
Timenet: shift management with flexible hours and legal certainty
Timenet is a software for SMEs specialized in working time management and time control. This tool allows you to carry out work planning in a simple way, while adapting to current regulations. Below, we highlight some key features of Timenet that help companies manage situations such as holiday compensation with total flexibility, transparency and legal certainty:
- Flexible shift planning: Allows you to create work calendars and manage shifts taking into account official holidays and weekly breaks, so that overlaps can be detected and avoided. With Timenet, you can easily reassign a compensatory day off or reorganize shifts so that all employees can enjoy their holidays without disruptions to operations.
- Absence and holiday management: The system records vacations, sick leave and holidays, associating them with each worker. When a holiday needs to be compensated, it can be programmed as a paid absence or compensatory day, which is clearly reflected in the calculation of hours. This ensures that the agreed annual working day remains balanced and visible to everyone.
- Integrated time control: Timenet incorporates a time control module that records the entry and exit of employees and the hours worked. This helps to comply with the regulations on recording working hours and to demonstrate that breaks and holidays are being respected as required by law, avoiding possible sanctions.
- Traceability and transparency: Any change in schedules or shifts is recorded in the system (who made it and when). This traceability provides transparency to workers and facilitates inspections: it can be easily justified, for example, that an employee was granted a day off in compensation for a holiday. In addition, all planning information is centralized and accessible.
- Adaptability to changing criteria: In the face of legislative or agreement changes (such as this new interpretation on holidays and breaks), Timenet can be reconfigured so that the new criteria are automatically applied in planning. The tool is flexible enough to adjust to new requirements for working hours, shifts and breaks, ensuring legal certainty and regulatory compliance at all times.