Spain: Ex-official paid €5,800 a month without working

The former senior official of the Port of Vigo who is paid €5,800 a month without working

«They pay me €5,800 a month to stay at home; it's not ethical». So said José Ramón Costas Alonso, former secretary general of the Port of Vigo, and he is 69 years old. The Supreme Court annulled his dismissal for age discrimination, but the port has not reinstated him. So he collects his full salary from home. And he himself calls it unethical. But he does not give it up.

A luxury shield for €5,800

Costas joined in 1984 as a dockworker and rose to secretary general. When they dismissed him, he appealed and won. But the Port Authority does not rehire him. Meanwhile, every month he receives €5,800. The maximum pension, meanwhile, is around half. The calculation he made when reporting was clear: if he retired, he would lose purchasing power. He preferred to fight for the job. Now he earns a salary that doubles what he would get as a retiree, without lifting a finger.

The ethical debate that no one closes

That a senior public official is paid in full without working is, at the very least, an anomaly. Costas knows it and says so. But he does not take the step of returning the money. Some argue that he is the victim of an administration that does not comply with court rulings; others, that he takes advantage of a system designed to protect the usual suspects. The reality is that while he collects from the sofa, any employee would have to retire or fend for themselves.

The fact that unsettles

The Supreme Court ruling proved him right: they could not fire him for age. But the Port Authority does not rehire him either. Trapped in that limbo, he keeps collecting. And he says it is not ethical. He could resign, but he does not. As some analyses point out, the salary is too tempting to let go. The final paradox: a man who started as a dockworker, became a law graduate and reached the top, now gets paid for doing nothing. And he tells the newspapers. But he does not remedy it.