The Dismissal of a Collective Bargaining Agreement cannot have retroactive effects.

According to a recent judgment of the Labour Division of the Supreme Court, the Collective Bargaining Agreement must be applied until it is partially derogated from. The uncoupling or deviation from what has been agreed can only take effect from the moment it is agreed. According to the Supreme Court, the judgment in which an uncoupling of a collective agreement is established cannot have retroactive effects even if it is agreed to modify the terms of the agreement. The ruling rejects the appeal lodged by a security company which argued that the negotiating parties can agree that the economic effects of the collective agreement can be backdated to a previous date.

Despite the fact that an agreement was reached with the approval of the majority of the workers' representatives, two trade union confederations lodged an appeal with the Madrid Supreme Court, which partially upheld the claim. According to the judgment, the agreement violated the non-retroactivity of provisions which are not favourable or which restrict rights under Article 9.3 EC.

The Supreme Court endorsed this argument and added that "the collective agreement binds all those included in its scope of application for the entire time it is in force". All this despite the fact that article 8.1.3 does not expressly limit the possibility of giving effectiveness to the amending agreement.

Labor Law Department G.Elias y Muñoz Abogados Madrid