Icod Council Ordered to Pay Police Officer €15,000 Overtime

A court in Santa Cruz de Tenerife has ordered the Icod de los Vinos City Council to pay a local police officer 15,000 euros for 415 hours of overtime. This marks the first time police officers in Icod have won such a case, according to the Independent Trade Union and Civil Servants' Central (CSIF). The ruling sets the payment for extra hours at 32 to 41 euros each, depending on whether they were worked during weekends, day shifts, or night shifts.

Nine other officers are waiting for their own rulings, and three more are preparing documents to claim payment for extra work. This means that 12 of the 22 officers in the Icod police force are currently seeking payment for their overtime hours through legal action.

The 15,000 euros the City Council must pay covers overtime hours worked by the officer in 2020 (220 hours) and 2022 (195 hours). Before taking legal action, the officer first filed an administrative complaint on May 16, 2024. However, the Icod City Council never responded. This lack of response, known as "administrative silence," allowed the officer to proceed with the lawsuit.

The dispute began in 2019. At that time, the city council, led by Francis González (CC), approved a 35-hour work week for all municipal employees. However, local police officers were excluded from this agreement, with the council arguing that their work was a "special service." The officers pushed for the same working hours as other council staff, a goal they finally achieved in 2024.

Following this, the officers decided to claim payment for all overtime hours worked between 2020 and 2024. The CSIF union explains that the local police force typically works an average of 45 hours per week, with some officers accumulating over 200 hours of overtime in a single year. This significant amount of overtime cannot simply be compensated with time off, as it equates to more than six months of regular working hours. The union argues that without these extra hours, essential police services for the municipality would not be adequately covered.

The court's ruling states that these extra hours must be compensated financially as "bonuses for extraordinary services." The officer plans to request enforcement of the judgment at the end of this month, assuming the Icod de los Vinos City Council does not appeal the decision.

The CSIF union also highlights a shortage of staff. The Icod local police force currently consists of 22 officers. However, the union points out that current law suggests there should be 45 officers for a municipality of Icod's size, which has nearly 25,000 residents.