The obligation to replace a shift worker: the borders between interim and the relief contracts

Comment on Ruling 3342/2009 of The High Court of Justice of The Comunidad Valenciana, of 12 November

Abstract

The commented sentence approaches the controversial obligation to replace a shift worker, when his redundancy takes place. The doctrine of majority suplicación has come to understand in a strict way the term «redundancy» identifying it with the extinction of the contract of article 49 of the Statute of the Workers. Recently, nevertheless, the Supreme Court has forced a worker to be replaced with a shift contract while he was on voluntary leave of absence. The sentence object of this study continues excluding from this obligation the cases of suspension, in particular the extended leave of absence for the care of children, and indicates that the suitable modality is the interim contract. In the commentary the author asks itself if the suplicación sentence opposes the unificadora doctrine.