The company collective agreement can be shielded against the sectoral agreement. The key is in time: if the agreement came into force before the sectoral one, it prevails in all matters, including wages. If, on the other hand, the company agreement comes later, it will only have priority in limited matters.
In this post we explain the two cases in which the company agreement prevails over the sectoral agreement, why it is important to distinguish between the two, and how the most recent case law on the matter is pronounced.
The general rule: the previous collective agreement must be respected (article 84.1 WS)
The first paragraph of article 84 of the Workers’ Statute (WS) forges the principle that a collective agreement that is already in force cannot be replaced by a subsequent agreement of a different scope. In other words: the one that is approved first prevails.
In the legal tradition this idea is expressed by the Latin maxim prior in tempore, potior in iure, which means “the first in time has the best right”. In the field of collective agreements, this principle implies that, if a company negotiates its agreement and it enters into force before a sectoral agreement is approved that seeks to regulate the same matters, the scope of negotiation initiated in the company is shielded, so that the subsequent sectoral collective agreement cannot invade that already regulated space (Judgment of the Supreme Court, of April 16, 2026).
This protection extends for the duration of the pre-existing agreement, including its express extensions and, according to part of the judicial doctrine, even the situation of ultra-activity when the bargaining unit is still alive and the negotiators continue to renew the text without having evidently abandoned it.
A crucial note: this priority is not based on the fact that the agreement is a company agreement. It is based on the fact that it is prior in time. It is irrelevant whether it is from a company, workplace, provincial or regional sector: the one that was already in force prevails over the one that comes later. That is why this rule is called absolute temporal priority: absolute because it extends to all matters of the agreement, including wages, working hours and any other working conditions.
The exception: priority limited to certain matters (article 84.2 WS)
The second paragraph of article 84 of the WS regulates under what conditions and for which matters a company agreement has priority over the sectoral agreement, when the latter is prior to the first.
The matters in which the subsequent company agreement may prevail over the pre-existing sectoral agreement are:
- Overtime and specific remuneration for shift work.
- Schedule, distribution of working time, shift system and annual vacation planning.
- Adaptation of the professional classification system.
- Adaptation of the contracting modalities attributed by law to company agreements.
- Measures to promote the reconciliation between work, family and personal life.
Since 2021, the amount of basic salary and salary supplements has ceased to be a matter in respect of which the company agreement may have priority in this case. Therefore, when the company agreement arises after the sectoral agreement, it cannot set different salaries under article 84.2. In this scenario, the applicable salary will be that of the sectoral agreement.
All this, without prejudice to the provisions of article 83.2 WS regarding the possible rules imposed by possible interprofessional agreements that may be applicable when resolving conflicts of concurrence between collective agreements of different scope.
Two exemplary cases
Case A: the company collective agreement is subsequent to the sectoral one
An undertaking carrying out an activity for which a sectoral collective agreement already exists decides to negotiate its own collective agreement. It can do so and, in accordance with article 84.2 of the WS, this company agreement will have priority over the sectoral agreement in matters such as working hours, distribution of working hours, shifts, holiday planning, professional classification and work-life balance, among others. However, it cannot set wages lower than those of the sectoral agreement in this way, because the salary matter is no longer among those that enjoy priority of application.
Case B: the company’s collective agreement is prior to the sectoral one
A company has its own collective agreement and, during its validity, a sectoral collective agreement is approved. Given that the company collective agreement was already in force before the appearance of the sectoral agreement, the rule of article 84.1 applies: the company agreement prevails in all matters, including wages, as long as it remains in force or extended. The subsequent sectoral agreement cannot replace it, and if the company continues to renew its own agreement in the same bargaining unit, that prevalence can be maintained indefinitely.
Practical conclusion for companies with their own collective agreement
In companies that have their own collective agreement prior to the sectoral collective agreement, it will continue to be applicable with absolute priority if it remains in force (during its initial or extended validity). When a new one is approved during the term of the sectoral agreement, it will only have priority of application over the sectoral agreement with respect to the matters assessed.
