The Labor Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community has declared the dismissal of a worker at the Alicante municipal swimming pools diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder consisting of Asperger syndrome null and void, considering it discriminatory.
The judgment grants the appellant compensation of 8,000 euros for moral damages and the Chamber considers that the Alicante City Council should have made the necessary adjustments to facilitate his labor integration before proceeding to dismiss him.
The magistrates thus estimate in part the appeal made by the affected party against the ruling of a Social Court in Alicante that dismissed his claim in the first instance, as reported by the TSJCV.
The appellant -who has a recognized degree of disability of 34%- had a temporary contract as a social interest worker with the category of service assistant since the end of December 2021. Said contract was terminated in January 2022 on the grounds that it did not had passed the probationary period.
The termination of the contract was based on the report signed by a concierge officer from the sports service of the Alicante City Council, which established that the employee did not meet the profile for the job position due to the way in which he carried out the tasks entrusted to him. Said report, in turn, had been drawn up on the basis of the demonstrations of the workers of the swimming pools where he had worked.
After studying the current legislation, both Spanish and European, as well as the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Social Chamber of the TSJCV has concluded that the dismissal was discriminatory due to disability.
The magistrates understand that the municipal corporation, before proceeding to dismiss him, should have made “reasonable adjustments to facilitate labor integration” of the worker, as established by European Directive 2000/78.
“These adjustments are integrated into the right to equal treatment and non-discrimination of people with disabilities where they are necessary to guarantee the exercise, under equal conditions, of their rights in the workplace,” the sentence states.
In this way, since reinstatement is not possible because the contract was temporary and expired in December 2022, the Chamber condemns the Alicante City Council to pay the worker the processing wages, an indemnity of 33 days of salary per year of service and additional compensation of 8,000 euros for moral damages. The judicial resolution has not been appealed, so it is already firm, according to the TSJCV.
