The Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) ruled in favour of an employee with parental responsibilities by obliging the employer to grant weekend days off. In its ruling on 12 October, the STJ reiterated its understanding that an employee with parental responsibilities, when defining the flexitime schedule to which she is entitled, may establish weekend days off, if she so requests, in order to harmonise her personal and professional life.

In the present case, the worker, who at the date of the flexible working hours request had two children, one aged 10 years and the other only 6 months old, requested weekend days off on the grounds that her working hours were incompatible with those of her husband, who also worked shifts. Since she could not rely on close relatives, could not afford to hire a babysitting service and the crèche was only open on working days, it was completely impossible to reconcile her family life with her professional life.

The employer (Primark) only accepted the request temporarily, explaining that it could not be a permanent measure. However, when refusing this request, it must base its decision on the terms of the law, emphasising the Court that the company did not invoke "any fact that would make the normal functioning of the 'shop' impossible" nor the "impossibility of replacing the Defendant, as she is "indispensable"".

As such, given that this is a company with a high number of employees and that it is open every day of the week, the Court considered that the company had no grounds for this refusal, and therefore gave reason to the worker.

This Ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice has contributed towards establishing case-law on this matter, in line with other rulings handed down by this Court, in the sense that it is possible for workers with parental responsibilities to choose their rest days under the flexitime system, as only in this way can a true conciliation of personal and professional life be achieved.