Spanish court deems breakfast breaks as paid working time
Spain’s Supreme Court has ruled that breakfast breaks must count as paid working time, as reported by SUR on June 17, 2025.
The case, concerning the time tracking practices of Caixabank, had previously been raised within a lower court by three unions (CCOO, UGT, and SECB). The unions argued that the bank’s time tracking system was too rigid, and that longstanding workplace agreements on qualifying work hours were being disregarded.
Caixabank appealed the decision within the Supreme Court, however, the court ruled in favor of the unions. The bank has been ordered to pay staff during their breakfast breaks.
Furthermore, Caixabank must also allow a 15-minute paid grace period between the time staff arrive at work and when they clock in.
The ruling applies specifically to workers with fixed timetables who are not in managerial roles.
Background
The ruling leans on Spain’s Royal Decree-Law 8/2019, enacted in May 2019, which obliges employers to accurately log the daily start and end times of each employee’s workday to enforce limits on working hours and ensure correct overtime compensation.
The Supreme Court also referenced a 2023 decision in which it advised companies to provide a user guide explaining the organization’s time tracking systems.
Caixabank did have such a guide, and argued that because time records should accurately reflect actual working hours, any minutes clocked after the official start time or during breaks should no longer count as time worked.
However, in 1991 Caixabank had signed a labor agreement that stated breakfast breaks qualified as paid working time, which the unions had argued was being ignored.
What does this Mean for Employers and HR Teams?
This decision signals the court’s view on labor hour practices and may force employers across Spain to reevaluate their time tracking systems and HR policies. Any digital tools used to record employee hours must allow for grace periods and paid breaks if such provisions were previously agreed upon.
For Caixabank, this ruling invalidates recent attempts to disqualify workers from being paid for qualifying work time, which could lead to payroll recalculations and potential back payments.
In the broader context of European time tracking law, the case could set a precedent for defining effective work time, especially in increasingly digital work environments.
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