In the judgment of 8 February 2018, the Social Affairs Chamber of the Supreme Court analyzes the right a worker has to return to the workplace after taking a leave for personal reasons when there are no vacancies, even in the case where the company does not fill similar positions left by other employees whose contracts have expired.
In this sense, the Chamber is of the opinion that, when the company streamlines its manpower and leaves the job positions previously taken up by other employees unfilled, the company cannot be regarded as having vacancies over which the worker seeking to return may exert his/her rights, despite the fact that said contracts were similar to that of the worker on leave, regardless of whether they expire due to a declaration of complete permanent disability, dismissal on disciplinary grounds, or resignation of the employee, provided that the company does not take any action to hire new employees or to entrust the tasks, functions, and roles of the ex-employees to other employees whose right is not above the right of the plaintiff (for example, by means of converting fixed-term and part-time contracts into indefinite and full-time contracts).
