Request for working-time adaptations: consequences of the employer's failure to comply with the duty to negotiate

Commentary on Supreme Court Ruling 825/2025 of 24 September

Abstract

In its Judgment of 24 September 2025, the Supreme Court resolves the question regarding the effects of an employer’s failure to comply with the legal obligation to negotiate with a worker who has requested an adaptation of their working hours, for work-life balance reasons, in the absence of applicable collective bargaining rules. The Court considers that the initiation of a negotiation period is established by law as a mandatory procedural step; therefore, its omission must result in the granting of the requested working-time adaptation, unless the adaptation sought is clearly unreasonable or disproportionate.