Andorra court rejects former Music and Dance Season director's salary claim

Andorra la Vella's municipal government will not have to pay Josep Maria Escribano, the former director of the capital's Music and Dance Season, the two months' salary he claimed following his departure at the end of 2023. The Administrative Chamber of the High Court (Tribunal Superior) has upheld a lower court ruling from the Batllia in the municipality's favour, rejecting Escribano's appeal.

Escribano had sought 6,270 euros — covering January and February 2024 — plus corresponding social security (CASS) contributions. He argued that he continued working on the programme for the new season during those two months, even after the change of communal administration, while negotiating new contract terms that he ultimately turned down.

The court found that no tacit extension of his contract existed and that no effective commission of work had been demonstrated. Escribano held a special-relationship contract, signed in January 2020, under which appointment and dismissal rested with the cònsol major. The contract stipulated that the role ended whenever the officeholder who appointed him left, with no notice period or severance beyond pay for time actually worked.

He was deregistered from the CASS with effect from 31 December 2023, coinciding with the end of the previous mandate, and signed the corresponding settlement of accounts. The High Court noted that this settlement was handled correctly and did not in itself bar recognition of later service — but any such service would have to be properly proven, which it was not.

Escribano, who had led the Season across more than 15 years and under successive communal teams, maintained that he had held at least five meetings with municipal representatives, reserved venues and contacted artists during the disputed period. He also cited travel between Barcelona and Andorra for talks with communal officials. He did not provide specific details about artists, citing confidentiality.

The municipality countered that he had produced no contracts, artistic proposals, budgets, emails or booking records to substantiate any real and effective activity, and that the new cònsols had never appointed him to a special-relationship post.

The High Court attributed the meetings with the corporation to the negotiation of new working conditions that Escribano eventually rejected. It stated that the mere continuation of certain contacts cannot by itself create a new legal relationship, and found no evidence of effective service during the two months in question — whether in the documents submitted, the testimony heard at trial or the travel involved.