Spanish labour legislation aimed at remunerating employees for unpaid overtime seems to have backfired after energy company Galp used the same biometric monitoring enforced by the legislation to ‘dock’ the pay of smokers.
Galp looked at the amount of time employees spent off site satisfying their habits and started adjusting salaries accordingly.
Coffee breaks and breakfasts were added to the cost-saving measure.
But a labour federation took issue with Galp and dragged it before a court which subsequently ruled in the defendant’s favour.
The court ruling is said to have stated that Galp had every right not to pay for the time that employees spent away from their work stations, indulging in non-productive activities.
The complainant has since said it intends to appeal against the ruling which it believes discriminates against the rights of smokers.
It is not certain whether the legislation has already achieved its initial objective – monitoring staff movements to accurately determine remunerable overtime.
The legislation was introduced when it was reported that three million hours of overtime were unpaid last year, not necessarily just in Spain. – Eugene Goddard
