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Jueves, 16 de enero 2025, 15:45
The Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) has declared the nullity of the dismissal of the laboratory professionals at Torrevieja Hospital, belonging to Torrevieja Diagnósticos SL, and has ordered the Health Department to reinstate the affected workers to their positions, from which they were dismissed in August of last year. This decision is subject to appeal. Read more about the laboratory professionals at Torrevieja Hospital.
According to the ruling of the Valencian high court, consulted by Europa Press, once the reversion of the Ribera Salud hospital centre to the Generalitat took place —effective from October 16, 2021— the list of personnel to be subrogated did not include the laboratory staff, as stated in a resolution published in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat (DOGV) in 2022.
In this context, the Health Department agreed to the emergency processing of the clinical analysis and microbiology service of the Torrevieja Health Department, which was awarded to Torrevieja Diagnósticos SL from the day of the reversion, lasting from that moment "until the formalization of the administrative contract" to provide this service.
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However, the Health Department informed Torrevieja Diagnósticos SL that from July 23, 2024, it had to cease providing the service, after which it processed this collective dismissal of the entire workforce.
The company justified the dismissals on the grounds that its only client was the Health Department, which cancelled the emergency contract for the laboratory service, and that there was no public administration tender it could apply for as a commercial entity.
Torrevieja Diagnósticos SL took over the laboratory service at Torrevieja Hospital from September 16, 2020, through a contract with Torrevieja Salud —that is, Ribera Salud—, thereby subrogating the staff from the previous company, Unilabs SLU, which managed the analytical services since December 30, 2010.
Furthermore, the Chamber considers that, having undergone the reversion, "the staff formally providing services for Torrevieja Diagnósticos SL should have been subrogated by the Health Department in the same condition as the rest of the hospital staff," which leads to the conclusion that the collective dismissal is null.
Similarly, it points out that the dismissals involved a breach of law. In this regard, it mentions the Second Agreement on the Subrogation of Workers in Public Contracting in the Valencian Community, which, applied to this case, states that the laboratory staff should have been considered Health Department personnel from the start and, therefore, should have been subrogated at the time of reversion.
In response to this TSJCV ruling, CCOO emphasizes that a "significant judicial victory" has been achieved, as it "confirms the obligation of the Health Department to subrogate the 35 laboratory workers, who should have been incorporated as labor personnel to be extinguished since the reversion of the department in October 2021."
The union stresses that the Health Department "opted for an emergency extension for this service, without this measure being justified, as the end of the concession contract was known a year in advance."
"This ruling not only supports the union's repeated demands but also highlights the responsibility of the Valencian government to ensure job stability and the proper functioning of the public health system," CCOO notes in a statement.
CCOO believes that "no laboratory in the Valencian public health system should be outsourced" and recalls that "the Torrevieja Hospital laboratory belongs, as infrastructure, to the Health Department and that, therefore, its staff should also have been part of direct management."
Likewise, the union denounces a "similar situation" at Dénia Hospital, "where the laboratory remains under an emergency contract, currently managed by Unilabs."
"The Health Department continues to deny their right to subrogation, arguing that the concessionaire previously subcontracted the service. This discriminatory treatment represents an injustice towards personnel who are an essential part of the healthcare service," adds CCOO, which hopes that the Torrevieja ruling "sets a clear precedent to definitively resolve these conflicts."
Thus, it calls on the Health Department for the "immediate subrogation of the 35 laboratory workers at Torrevieja Hospital, as well as those at Dénia, respecting their labor rights and consolidating their status as labor personnel to be extinguished."
It also considers it "essential" to promote legal regulations that clearly and definitively govern subrogation in all reversion processes, to "avoid the repetition of similar conflicts in the future," and urges the Health Department to "refrain from appealing the ruling" and "prioritize justice and public interest over unnecessary litigation."
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