The Workers’ Union of Caixa Geral de Depósitos Group Companies (STEC) announced on Wednesday that it has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), describing it as a decisive step in defending workers’ rights to justified absences in the event of family bereavement, without such absences being counted as weekends or holidays.
The organization recalled in a statement that the process began in April 2023 when STEC initiated legal action against Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) over the accounting of justified absences following the death of a family member.
“Despite unfavorable judicial decisions by the Supreme Administrative Court and the Supreme Court of Justice—both of which, while acknowledging the existence of ‘a profoundly divided legal system, both at the doctrinal level (…) and in terms of the understanding and practices adopted by ACT services and the Public Administration in general…’—maintained that the term ‘consecutive days’ should encompass all calendar days, when in fact it concerns consecutive working days and not days of rest,” reads the statement sent to newsrooms.
The union stressed that it has never accepted “this restrictive and discriminatory interpretation,” finding support from influential bodies such as the Superior Council of the Judiciary, the Ombudsman, the Authority for Working Conditions, the Directorate-General for Administration and Public Employment, and the Directorate-General for School Administration, which “agree that mourning days should not include weekends or holidays.”
“The current duality of criteria results in unequal treatment between public and private sector workers, constituting a clear violation of fundamental principles of justice and equality, perpetrated by the Portuguese state. This is precisely the discrimination that STEC seeks to rectify through the intervention of the European Court of Human Rights,” it explained.
The group also called on political leaders to “take responsibility for definitively and unequivocally clarifying the norm in question through legislative measures ensuring its uniform application” and to expressly recognize “that mourning days do not include weekends or intervening holidays,” in order to ensure “justice and dignity during a particularly fragile time for workers.”
Judicial decisions have sided with CGD in the two legal actions initiated by STEC regarding the interpretation of Article 251 of the Labor Code, which defines the days of absence to which a worker is entitled in the event of mourning. The union argued that the calculation should cover only working days, whereas CGD has always accounted for consecutive calendar days, including weekends and holidays.
In the lawsuit filed in the Labor Court, CGD was first acquitted by the Lisbon Labor Court and then by the Lisbon Court of Appeal. Finally, it was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Justice.
This latter body, in a ruling dated June 25, confirmed that “the expression ‘consecutive days’ in Article 251 of the Labor Code should be interpreted as corresponding to consecutive calendar days, regardless of whether they are working days, workdays, or days of rest.” The decision is not subject to appeal.
In the lawsuit filed by the union, the Lisbon Administrative Court initially ruled in favor of STEC. CGD appealed, and the South Central Administrative Court upheld the appeal, overturning the initial decision.
STEC then appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court, but the court did not admit the review, rendering the decision final in a ruling dated July 16.
