Spain’s National High Court’s social chamber ruled that coffee, sandwich, and cigarette breaks can be omitted from working time calculations. The ruling came down in favor of the defendant Galp Ernergia España in a case brought by the CCOO trade union. The decision against CCOO’s claim dates back to December 2019 and was published on 11 February 2020. In it the court ruled that a company can, as part of implementing the new working time register, omit from effective working time calculations staff sandwich, coffee, and cigarette breaks.
CCOO had been asking that Galp’s omission of these breaks from working time calculations ever since it implemented the mandatory time register (c.f. article no. 11038) be declared null and void and it was calling for a new system that did not affect these types of informal breaks that are taken on an ad hoc basis during the day and were hitherto included in effective working time.
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