Tuesday, March 26

The head of the Local Police of Badajoz wants to charge 250,000 euros in overtime but the court rejects it


Administrative Litigation number 2 of Badajoz recalls that his salary already included the concept of exclusive dedication

Evaristo Fdez de Vega

The chief superintendent of the Badajoz Local Police, Rubén Muñoz, has seen his claim to charge more than 250,000 euros rejected for the more than 4,000 overtime hours that, according to what he affirms, he has done since he took over as head of the Local Police from Badajoz.

In the appeal that has now been resolved by the Contentious-Administrative Court number 2 of Badajoz, it was indicated that this extra work had to be done because the staff of the Badajoz Local Police does not have the two mayor positions and the four of inspector that, in his opinion, would be necessary to complete the chain of command.

But that argument has been rejected by the court, which considers it illegal to pay overtime to someone who already has the concept of exclusive dedication included in his salary.

Muñoz requested 875 overtime hours corresponding to the year 2014, a considerable figure if one takes into account that his annual workday is 1,657 hours. He also requested payment of 952 overtime hours for the year 2015. The figure was almost identical in 2016 (944 hours), dropped somewhat in 2017 (874 hours) and dropped considerably in 2018 (370 hours).

The various writings that he presented to the City Council to claim these payments did not receive a response. The last one was registered on September 6, 2021, in which he also proposed that the right to receive the sub-concept of dangerousness or extreme danger that is paid to inspectors, who receive 1,836 euros per year for this concept, be recognized.

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The Councilor for Human Resources, Hitos Mogena, did respond to that request in a decree that dismissed her request. But the procedure entered a new phase when the superintendent decided to go to court and his case ended up in the Contentious-Administrative Court 2 of Badajoz. The trial was held on May 27 and that day the amount requested was estimated at 251,919 euros.

Muñoz argued that all those overtime hours had been performed with the “tacit consent” of the Local Police councilors and asked that each overtime hour be paid at a rate of 58.75 euros.

He based his request on the fact that there were other municipal officials who had the concept of “exclusive dedication” included in their salary and yet received “numerous hours of extraordinary bonuses on a regular basis.”

Full time

The court now indicates that his position already contemplates the concept of exclusive dedication, which is the one that is paid to officials who do not have a specific schedule and do have absolute availability, “which implies incompatibility for any other profession or trade.”

This requires him to “be located quickly and easily every day of the year, including holidays”, “show up for work when requested” and remain available in suitable physical and mental conditions to carry out the functions of his job» .

“Employees who occupy cataloged positions with exclusive dedication may not receive any other type of extraordinary remuneration,” added the plenary agreement in which it was also determined that overtime is only those that “are carried out sporadically, as a consequence of a unforeseen accumulation of tasks.

The ruling affirms that this definition does not correspond to the hours claimed by Muñoz, in whose appeal he requested, for example, payment for the hours spent during the matches of Club Deportivo Badajoz, whose matches are played every two weeks.

“Those that are foreseeable over time or that are repeated cyclically are not considered overtime,” added the full agreement that has been used by the court as an argument to reject these payments.

“Overtime hours are of an exceptional nature, limited in time (…), they cannot become ordinary, as claimed by the plaintiff, who in view of the content of his claim, it seems that he has worked more overtime than hours ordinary work”, adds a ruling in which it is recalled that the payment of overtime also requires that there is a budget allocation for it, something that does not happen in this case.

“More than a claim for bonuses for overtime, what he is actually claiming is payment for carrying out tasks that should be carried out by other officials of the Local Police force, two mayors and four inspectors (… ), which is something that is unaffordable due to the lack of legal coverage, ”adds a ruling that orders the plaintiff to pay costs, who has 15 days to file an appeal if he is not satisfied with the sentence.


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