With the arrival of the Christmas holidays, many companies give their staff the traditional Christmas basket or other gifts. However, would it be feasible to update or replace these gifts with more flexible alternatives? In this post we analyze whether changes can be made to this practice.

Traditionally, many companies have given their staff a Christmas basket. However, with the passage of time, many of them are considering whether it is possible to eliminate it or replace it with more current alternatives, such as gift cards.

In this previous post, we addressed whether the Christmas basket could be eliminated, regarding the Supreme Court ruling of April 21, 2016, which in the case analyzed ruled that it could not, because the Christmas gift constituted a consolidated right of the employees.

Now, could the company replace the Christmas basket with another gift? The Supreme Court, in its judgement of 17 September 2025, endorsed this possibility in a case in which the company had offered a group of employees who traditionally received such a basket the possibility of replacing it with a gift card. The Court found that:

  • The right that existed in that case had not been eliminated but had changed its format.
  • The replacement of the Christmas basket with the gift card does not imply a substantial modification, since the choice between one or the other gift corresponded to the employee that year in question, without altering the possibility that other years could receive the basket.

Thus, regarding Christmas baskets, it can be concluded that (always subject to the specific circumstances of each case):

  • When it is delivered as a business liberality sporadically and without an express desire for consolidation, the company can suppress it.
  • When the company has consolidated the right of its workforce to receive it year after year (because it has delivered it repeatedly over time and there are unequivocal acts on the part of the company of its desire to consolidate):
    1. The company cannot eliminate it unilaterally, without following the procedure for substantial modification of working conditions.
    2. The company may replace it with another gift of an equivalent nature if it does not imply the definitive elimination of the possibility of receiving a basket; the economic value, nature and purpose of the gift are respected; and the choice of one or the other alternative corresponds to the employee.

In view of this precedent, it will be necessary to observe the evolution of the case law to determine whether the courts allow companies, under certain conditions, to adapt their social benefits to new realities, thus allowing more flexible modalities.

Sofía Espizua Gordobil

Labor and Employment Department