Spanish court upholds worker dismissal over lateness and social media use at work

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The court has ruled in favour of the cleaning company that fired the worker after noticing her "lack of interest" and detecting that she would often prolong her breaks

Monday, 2 March 2026, 15:11

A Spanish court has upheld the dismissal of a worker who was fired from a cleaning company due to issues related to frequent lateness and social media use at work.

According to the company, the former worker would often take breakfast and lunch breaks that exceeded the conditions of the contract by between ten and 45 minutes.

In addition, despite the contract banning the use of a mobile phone during working hours, except for "very justified reasons", the company found that the worker would spend an average of one hour and six minutes on social media per day.

All this, alongside repeated lack of punctuality and frequent errors due to lack of involvement in regular tasks, led to her dismissal. The worker had a part-time permanent employment contract for cleaning buildings and premises.

At the time, the company justified the dismissal on the grounds that it had noticed for some time "a lack of interest in the performance of tasks" in the employee's behaviour.

In July 2025, the social court of Las Palmas upheld the dismissal. The High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands later dismissed the former worker's appeal.