The Social Court Number 3 of Las Palmas has condemned Sistemas de Seguridad SH Lanzarote to reinstate or compensate a worker who was dismissed after this company lost the surveillance contract of the Tourist Centers in July 2020. The ruling, dated February 12, acquits both the CACT and the current awarding company, Prosegur, since it considers that it did not have the obligation to subrogate the entire staff.
“The subrogation is not automatic and unconditional, but it is a matter of evidence in which the concurrent circumstances in each case must be assessed”, the ruling states. In this regard, it emphasizes that the tender specifications included as technical improvements "the implementation of systems that reduce the presence of physical personnel by providing technological means”, which is what Prosegur offered.
Thus, it installed a central alarm and camera control receiver, “combining the traditional surveillance system with another of flexible rounds with mobile patrols”, which “has meant a decrease in contracted hours of the face-to-face surveillance service”.
In this way, of the staff of 24 people presented by the previous company, Prosegur only subrogated 10 workers, five full-time and five part-time, opting for those with the longest seniority. The rest lost their jobs, but the ruling concludes that the responsibility lies with SH Lanzarote, which is the one who condemns when estimating this claim of one of those affected.
The ruling thus rejects the allegations of this company, which argued that it was the new awarding company that should have taken charge of this worker and the rest of the staff who lost their jobs. In fact, it did not even notify them of the dismissal and only sent them a letter last August, in which it informed them that they would be subrogated by the new company, which did not happen.
“Prosegur maintained a number of workers proportional to the final reduction in hours and therefore the responsibility for maintaining employment must fall on SH Lanzarote”, the ruling responds, against which an appeal may still be filed with the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands.
Therefore, it concludes that “SH Lanzarote's decision to discharge the plaintiff on August 31, 2020 must be understood as an unfair dismissal”, and condemns the company to reinstate the plaintiff “under the same conditions that existed prior to the dismissal, as well as the payment of processing salaries in an amount equal to the sum of the salaries that he stopped receiving from August 31, 2020”, or to compensate him in the amount of 23,131 euros for the dismissal.
In addition, it acquits Proseguir and the Centers for Art, Culture and Tourism of the Cabildo “of all claims made against them”.
