Company ordered to compensate mother denied leave to care for her baby in the Canary Islands

CCOO has celebrated this Monday morning "an important victory in terms of work-life balance, equality, and child protection". A ruling issued by the Social Chamber of the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC), which has ordered Aeromédica Canarias SLU for violating the fundamental rights of a worker and her fifteen-month-old baby by denying her the paid leave provided for in article 37.3.b) of the Workers' Statute. 

The resolution, achieved by the legal services of CCOO, revokes the ruling of the Social Court number 7 of Las Palmas and establishes that the company's action constituted discrimination based on gender and a violation of the best interests of the child, obliging Aeromédica Canarias to return the deducted salaries and compensate for moral damages to both the mother and the child. 

The worker requested the leave to care for her sick child, providing a report issued by a doctor from the Canary Health Service which expressly indicated the need for the minor to remain under his mother's care for three days. However, the company denied the leave, considering the documentation presented insufficient and demanding details about the illness and its severity. 

For CCOO, the position taken by Aeromédica Canarias represents a profoundly dehumanized interpretation of labor relations, prioritizing bureaucratic criteria over the right of a sick child to receive care from his mother. The ruling makes it clear that no company can demand that workers reveal sensitive medical information or subject the exercise of the right to care to company assessments of the severity of an illness. 

Of particular relevance is the fact that the Court has expressly applied the gender perspective and the principle of the best interests of the child, also recognizing the so-called "parenting stress" and the burden that women continue to bear disproportionately due to the double presence of work and family responsibilities. 

CCOO considers that this ruling is a legal milestone of enormous importance because it sends a clear message to the entire business community: work-life balance rights are not company favors, but fundamental rights that must be respected. 

Likewise, the union highlights the significance of the TSJC recognizing the baby as a direct victim of the violation and ordering the company to also compensate the minor.

Children's rights, at the center of labor relations

Affiliated with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), an exceptional stance that places children's rights at the center of labor relations and strengthens the protection of the right to care.

CCOO warns that it will continue to fight in the courts against any business practice that turns maternity, paternity, or family responsibilities into a reason for discrimination or punishment.

Because no worker should be forced to choose between caring for a sick child or keeping their salary. And because the right to care is also a right for children.