Given the high rate of absenteeism, companies are exploring possible measures to reduce it. Article 20.4 of the Workers’ Statute gives them the possibility of verifying the state of health of employees through medical examinations. In this post we explain the scope of this tool.
According to the latest quarterly report published by Randstad Research on absenteeism, in the third quarter of 2025 a total of 1,477,549 people did not go to work every day, of which 1,164,129 were in a situation of temporary disability (TI).
These data worry companies, which are considering what measures they can adopt to reduce the high rate of absenteeism. Among the possible actions, doubt arises as to the scope of the power of control offered by article 20.4 of the Workers’ Statute.
This provision, included in the article that regulates the different powers of management and control of work activity by the company, attributes to it the power to “verify whether the state of health alleged by the employees justifies their absence from work through medical examinations by medical personnel. The refusal of the employee to such examinations may determine the suspension of the economic rights that may exist at the expense of the employer due to such situations”.
Thus, the medical examination can be a skillful means of reducing the level of absenteeism from work derived from TI situations. Its purpose is to verify whether the state of health of the employee on TI prevents them from providing services.
To implement a procedure for verifying the state of health that justifies absence from work under this article, the company must, in the first place, review whether the applicable collective agreement regulates the matter in any way. In the absence of conventional regulation, the company may exercise such power by establishing the appropriate methodology for said purpose, under the parameters of good faith, reasonableness, proportionality and adequacy, respecting employee rights (in essence, those related to the safeguarding of their privacy and consideration due to their dignity).
The medical examination may be carried out, in general (in the absence of conventional provision or specific regulations applicable to the specific case), by health personnel of the company or belonging to external companies.
In view of the above, to apply this measure, it is important that the company creates a protocol or process to carry out the medical examination, reminding the implications of the employee’s refusal to undergo it.
In fact, the cited provision, in addition to making it possible to verify the state of health that justifies the absence of the person, establishes the possibility for the company to suspend the payment of the supplement to the TI benefit when the employee refuses to submit to the examination.
As an example of cases in which the courts have endorsed the suspension of the voluntary improvement associated with TI, the Judgment of the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country of July 22, 2025, confirmed the possibility of a company failing to pay an employee the TI supplement for not collaborating with the medical service by providing the required information, and the Judgment of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia of March 15, 2023, understood that the mere refusal or non-attendance of the employee to the medical examination was sufficient cause for the company not to pay the voluntary improvement of the TI benefit.
In this context, the medical examination is revealed as a legally provided control tool, useful to address absenteeism from work, although its application requires business action that, respecting the regulatory and conventional framework, is reasonable, proportional and adequate.
