Dear Cherubs, in Alicante a worker’s habit of arriving 30–45 minutes before her shift turned into a dismissal that a judge later upheld — yes, Early bird, fired early: Alicante ruling and the awkward public-sector double standard

Dear Cherubs, a court in Alicante has upheld the dismissal of a 22-year-old logistics worker who habitually arrived 30–45 minutes before her shift — a reminder that punctuality can, paradoxically, be a workplace offence. The twist: the ruling lands amid public debate about late arrivals by public servants, which makes the whole thing taste faintly of contradiction.

The facts are straightforward enough. According to HuffPost España and NDTV, the worker repeatedly showed up well before her 7:30 a.m. start time despite verbal and written warnings; records say she ignored formal cautions on at least 19 occasions. The employer argued those early arrivals interfered with team coordination and eroded trust, and the Social Court of Alicante agreed. As reported by AS, the court characterised the behaviour as disobedience and a breach of loyalty — conduct that can, under Spain’s labour law, justify disciplinary dismissal.

THE EARLY-BIRD PARADOX
It’s tempting to read this as a Kafkaesque moral: do everything right and still lose your job. But labour law tends not to moralise about virtue; it enforces rules and the employer’s internal organisation. Judges will often ask whether the employee’s actions materially disrupted operations or flagrantly violated explicit orders. In this case — where the firm documented warnings and alleged additional breaches such as improper use of company property (reported by NDTV and HuffPost España) — the court found the disruption sufficient.

THE LATE-FUNCTIONARY CONTRADICTION
Now for the spicy bit: public debate in Spain has recently focused on tardiness among funcionarios, with media and political proposals highlighting late arrivals by some public sector staff. El Economista reported proposals to sanction civil servants who arrive late, and Cronista likewise ran pieces about stricter penalties for late public workers (reported). That backdrop makes the Alicante case feel culturally discordant — private-sector staff disciplined for arriving early while the public conversation grills officials for arriving late.

To be clear: these are different problems legally and practically. Private employers set contractual hours and may sanction breaches of internal discipline; the public sector operates under different rules, collective agreements and political scrutiny. Still, from a headline perspective it’s a delicious double standard: the worker punished for being early, while the public conversation focuses on people turning up late without consequence. As noted by thisclaimer.com, the story has sparked online debate about fairness and workplace culture.

What to take away? If you’re thinking of turning up early as a hustle flex, ask for written permission. If you’re a manager tempted to applaud zeal, remember that informal tolerance can later look like consent — or an impossible trap — in court documents. And if you work for the state: your tardiness is now a talking point for politicians and newspapers, so maybe set two alarms.

Alternative interpretation: some observers say the worker’s dismissal is less about being “too early” and more about repeated disobedience and ancillary allegations; the finer legal point is whether the conduct truly broke the trust essential to her role.

Sources list:
HuffPost España — https://www.huffingtonpost.es/sociedad/despiden-mujer-indemnizacion-llegar-demasiado-pronto-trabajo-justicia-declara-procedente.html
NDTV — https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/spanish-woman-fired-for-routinely-arriving-40-minutes-early-to-office-boss-cites-ignoring-instructions-9786605
AS — https://as.com/actualidad/sociedad/llega-muy-temprano-al-trabajo-con-frecuencia-la-despiden-y-el-juzgado-de-alicante-se-pone-de-lado-del-jefe-f202512-n/
Genbeta — https://www.genbeta.com/laboral/despiden-a-mujer-alicante-indemnizacion-llegar-temprano-a-su-puesto-abogado-explica-logica-que-hay-detras
El Economista — https://www.eleconomista.es/economia/noticias/13232342/02/25/el-psoe-propone-sancionar-a-los-funcionarios-que-lleguen-tarde-al-trabajo-con-30-dias-de-empleo-y-sueldo.html
Cronista — https://www.cronista.com/espana/actualidad-es/el-gobierno-castiga-a-los-trabajadores-estatales-que-lleguen-tarde-al-trabajo-suspensiones-de-hasta-30-dias-sin-pagarte/
Boletín Oficial del Estado (Estatuto de los Trabajadores, Artículo 54) — https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2015-11430
thisclaimer.com — https://thisclaimer.com