SPAIN — While America’s self-proclaimed morality groups petition the government to persecute hotels that allow their adult guests to view pornography in the privacy of their own room, Spain is moving in quite the opposite direction.Last week the Spanish Supreme Court concluded that workers have the right to view pornographic material — or any other topic of their choosing that’s available online — while on company time.
The ruling came in response to a demand by a worker who had been fired for viewing adult content, spending time in chat rooms, and reading personal email during business hours. T&D Innovación y Mantenimiento S.A was able to determine these things once it had installed spyware on the man’s computer in order to monitory his activities.
The man had insisted that the court ensure that he either be hired back by the company or compensated for the inconvenience of being sacked and wages lost during the dispute.
In addition to the above mentioned leisure activities, the company that let the man go pointed out that he spent 50 minutes of each work day “eating sunflower seeds.”
The Supreme Court finding overturned two previous decisions which had been made in the company’s favor by courts in the Basque Country and pointed out that there is no Spanish law prohibiting the use of the internet for private purposes while at work.
Thanks to the court’s directive, the man must now be re-hired or paid 4,200 € in compensation, as well as back wages from the date of firing until the date of the new ruling.
