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Ignacio del Fraile and Lourdes Escassi analyze the legal limits of incentives to reduce absenteeism at work | El Mundo
23 of February, 2026
Ignacio del Fraile and Lourdes Escassi, partner and counsel of the Employment team at Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, comment in El Mundo on the impact of current jurisprudence on corporate policies aimed at reducing absenteeism at work.
The lawyers explain that, according to the courts, financial incentives linked to not missing work are considered discriminatory, even when their purpose is to improve attendance, as medical leave is treated as equivalent to the effective provision of services. This interpretation leaves companies with very limited room for action, forcing them to exercise extreme caution when designing internal policies.
The analysis takes place in a context of a growing rate of medical leave and a regulatory framework that prevents both penalisation and reward measures, generating a high level of legal uncertainty for companies..
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