Verdicts & victories (VI): The courts condemn Valls City Council to pay a local police officer the expenses derived from his attendance at two training courses

Nieto Jones managed to get the Contentious-Administrative Court No. 02 of Tarragona to order the Valls City Council to pay a local police officer the expenses for meals, accommodation and transportation derived from his attendance at two training courses.

During the months of October and November 2021, the plaintiff, in his capacity as a local police officer of the City Council, attended two training courses on traffic accident investigation, organized by the Generalitat of Catalonia, specifically by the Institute of Public Security of Catalonia.

The City Council authorized his attendance and payment of the courses along with their costs, however when requesting the return of the spent allowanced for accommodation and meals, they refused to return the expenses. This represented a flagrant violation of the Royal Decree 462/2002, of May 24 provisions on compensation for service.

Consequently, this forced the local police officer to pay more than 1,000 euros out of his own pocket to cover all the expenses derived from attending the training courses. Money that the City Council refused to return.

Given this situation, Nieto Jones took charge of the matter and, on January 7, 2022, filed a contentious-administrative appeal against the resolutions in which the City Council denied payment of the expenses derived from attending the training courses.

The appeal was based mainly on the violation of the provisions of article 7 of the Royal Decree 462/2002, of May 24, on compensation for service; article 40 of the agreement on working conditions of the staff at the service of the Valls City Council; and the principle of equality included in article 14 of the Spanish Constitution, as other colleagues had been compensated by returning the expenses paid for the same allowances in the past.

On September 8, 2023, the Court ruled in their favor and annulled the resolutions of the Valls City Council. They were ordered to pay the appellant 1,010.28 euros in expenses for meals, accommodation and transportation, plus the corresponding legal interests. In addition, the Courts forced the City Council to pay legal costs.

The resolution can be consulted via the following link.

This sentence should be considered for officials who carry out training courses outside of their municipality.

If you want us to exercise your rights against the Public Administration, send us a WhatsApp or call us at +34610632963 or write to us at contact@nietojones.com.