The High Court of Justice of Aragon has recognised a temporary kitchen assistant at a public nursing home in Zaragoza as a non-fixed indefinite worker and awarded her 5,000 euros in compensation for abusive hiring practices.
The Social Chamber of the regional court also ordered a certified copy of its decision to be sent to the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate so that sanctioning proceedings can be launched against the General Deputation of Aragon.
Judges clarified that declaring the employee non-fixed indefinite does not automatically grant her permanent civil service status. The ruling explained that she entered the public administration through a temporary hiring pool rather than passing an open competitive examination required for permanent public posts.
The Social Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Aragon issued Ruling 000624/2026 on September 21. Court records revealed that the employee had worked under various temporary contracts dating back to 1998, although not all of those contracts were in the same position or job category.
To assess her continuous employment, the court focused on an uninterrupted period that began in 2016. Her latest contract with the Government of Aragon was formalised on August 7, 2019, as an interim contract to cover a vacancy for a kitchen assistant at the Romareda Senior Care Home, which operates under the Aragonese Institute of Social Services.
Exceeding legal limits on temporary contracts
The court found that the vacancy remained pending permanent coverage without any competitive selection process being convened to fill it. Maintaining the temporary contract for more than three years without calling an examination or offering extraordinary justification exceeded the standard timeframe allowed to cover a vacant public post.
Under Supreme Court jurisprudence, three years is established as the general time limit for temporary vacancy contracts unless the public administration can prove exceptional circumstances. The tribunal noted that the worker had previously taken a competitive examination in 2009 for the permanent post of second official kitchen assistant but failed to pass, which legally prevented the court from awarding her a permanent civil service position despite the abusive hiring.
In Spain, public sector staffing relies heavily on temporary interim workers, known as interinos, to fill administrative and service vacancies. Constitutional rules mandate that permanent civil service posts must be awarded through open competitive examinations based on merit. To protect workers against prolonged temporary hiring without violating constitutional access rules, Spanish courts created the non-fixed indefinite classification, which provides employment protections until a post is formally filled through open competition.
Compensation criteria and labor inspection
To set the financial compensation, the Social Chamber applied the doctrine established in Supreme Court Ruling 475/2026, which was handed down in May. That precedent provides specific financial reparation for harm caused by irregular temporary contracting, taking reference from statutory fine brackets under Spain's Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order.
Judges quantified the worker's compensation at 5,000 euros, setting the amount at the top end of the medium scale for serious administrative infractions. The tribunal specified that this payout compensates for harm suffered during the active employment relationship and does not replace any potential severance pay that might apply if her employment is terminated in the future.
By forwarding the case to the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate, the court ruled that labor enforcement authorities are empowered to act whenever a public administration is declared to have breached legal limits on temporary contracting.
The resolution was issued without an order for court costs. Either party may prepare an appeal for the unification of doctrine before the Supreme Court within ten days following official notification of the ruling.
