The High Court of Justice of Andalusia (Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Andalucia, or TSJ) has confirmed the disciplinary dismissal of a Renfe employee who claimed nearly 2,000 euros in compensation for train delays that, according to the ruling, were not owed to her.
The worker, based in the commercial services department of Seville's Santa Justa station, filed five compensation requests between 31 December 2019 and 23 January 2020. The claims totalled 1,994.80 euros and were all linked to AVE high-speed rail tickets that had been paid for in cash.
The case first reached Seville's Social Court number 1, which backed the company's decision to dismiss her. She appealed, but the Sala upheld the ruling, finding proven evidence of irregular use of internal tools and login credentials. Renfe kept the most severe sanction available, arguing the scheme had been planned in advance.
How the scheme worked
Ruling 3727/2025, issued on 17 December 2025, sets out how the fraud was carried out. The employee had her own access to Renfe's VMT, DATAWAREHOUSE and MOL systems, but instead obtained and displayed tickets using a colleague's password. She then printed them under the username ESSEUMO, which belonged to a worker employed by Adif, the state body that manages Spain's rail infrastructure. A digital trail allowed investigators to reconstruct the full sequence of operations.
According to the ruling, the procedure followed a set pattern: select AVE tickets eligible for compensation, check whether the passengers had already requested a refund themselves, and then wait about 50 days, close to the claim deadline, before submitting the compensation request. The court said this ruled out isolated incidents and pointed instead to a previously planned course of action.
Repayment and defence rejected
The employee repaid 1,746.75 euros first and later returned the remaining 248.05 euros. She argued there had been no premeditation, asked the court to treat her confession as a mitigating factor, and cited mental health and financial difficulties. The Sala rejected these arguments, ruling that none of them had been proven at the time the acts were committed and that repaying the money afterwards did not erase the disciplinary breach.
Union persecution claim dismissed
Her appeal also alleged possible discrimination linked to her father's trade union activity. The tribunal found no indication that Renfe had acted for that reason, noting that the company sanctions misappropriation, fraud or economic harm whenever these are proven, regardless of family ties. The court said the family relationship did not change the outcome of the case.
For the Sala, the use of another employee's credentials, the fact the tickets were paid for in cash, and the deliberate wait before filing claims all pointed to conscious preparation. It found the conduct breached the good faith owed under her employment contract and amounted to a very serious offence under the applicable collective bargaining agreement.
What happens next
The ruling upholds the disciplinary dismissal and grants the employee no severance compensation for the termination of her contract. It also allows her to lodge a cassation appeal for the unification of doctrine before Spain's Supreme Court within ten working days of notification.
The TSJ of Andalusia dismissed the appeal and confirmed the lower court's ruling in full, concluding that Renfe had proven the irregular access, the economic harm and the planning behind the compensation claims.
