Spain's Supreme Court: employers cannot cut an agreed remote-work percentage without the worker's consent
Spain’s Supreme Court (Sala de lo Social) has ruled that an employer cannot unilaterally reduce the percentage of remote work set in an individual telework agreement. In ruling 608/2026, dated 1 July 2026 and reported through July, the court blocked the Real Automóvil Club de Cataluña (RACC) from cutting affected employees from 100% remote to 75% without each worker’s express written consent.
The court held that these arrangements are governed by Spain’s remote-work law, Ley 10/2021, and not by Article 41 of the Workers’ Statute, which allows employers to vary certain conditions for organisational or economic reasons. Under Ley 10/2021, the court found, neither so-called ETOP causes nor the expiry of a collective agreement lets an employer reduce an agreed in-person percentage on its own. Changing the balance of remote and on-site work requires agreement between employer and worker. In a separate ruling the same chamber confirmed the nullity of two clauses in Endesa’s 2022 telework agreement for breaching the same law.
Why this matters
If you work remotely in Spain under an individual telework agreement, your agreed remote-work percentage is a contractual term your employer cannot simply revoke. An employer pushing you back to the office, or trimming your remote days, needs your consent to change the percentage set in that agreement rather than the power to impose it. This is a concrete limit on return-to-office pressure for employees whose remote arrangement is written into an individual agreement under Ley 10/2021, and it strengthens your position if you are asked to give up remote days.
Context
Spain has one of Europe’s more developed remote-work statutes. Ley 10/2021 requires a written agreement for regular remote work, covers expense reimbursement and equipment, and preserves reversibility rights. This ruling clarifies that the law operates as lex specialis for individual remote-work terms, taking precedence over the more employer-friendly general variation route in Article 41. It is an employment-law decision and is separate from Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa rules, which govern non-EU remote workers rather than domestic employment contracts.
What to watch
Employers with collective or individual telework agreements in Spain are likely to review how remote-work percentages are drafted in light of the decision. Anyone relying on the ruling for their own situation should confirm the exact scope with a Spanish employment lawyer, as the outcome turns on the specific terms of the individual agreement.