The Social Chamber of the TSJA confirms the sanction of three years of suspension from employment and salary for a teacher at the University of Málaga for sexual harassment of a colleague. The ruling overturns the reduction to six months that had been issued by the Social Court number 2 and is now final.
The Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) has confirmed the sanction of three years of suspension from employment and salary for a professor at the University of Málaga (UMA) for sexual harassment of a colleague from the same faculty. The ruling, dated 1 July, overturns the decision of the Social Court number 2, which had reduced the punishment to six months, and is now final, according to Diario Sur.
The Andalusian court concludes that the facts constitute a very serious offence of sexual harassment and that the court could not substitute the sanction imposed by the University once the classification of the conduct was ratified. The resolution allowed for an appeal to the Supreme Court, but neither party prepared it within the legal timeframe, so "its firmness is declared".
"You make me feel really uncomfortable and violated," the professor stated in an email directed to the teacher.
The proven facts date back to June 2021, when the professor, who had been teaching at UMA since 2009, sent the colleague a photograph of one of her legs while lying down. He asked her to stop sending such images. In August, she sent him another photo of her legs and a close-up of herself. In October, the teacher insisted: "I need you to respect my position".
In November of that year, the professor expressed to her that those messages made him uncomfortable and reminded her that he had the right to decide which ones he wanted to receive. Days later, she sent him a letter expressing her feelings and describing intimate affectionate gestures. The next day, the teacher requested that she remove him from a shared folder on Drive for a professional collaboration, titled 'Articles'.
On 3 December, the professor sought advice from the Vice-Rectorate for Equality and stated that he was still "very affected by this incident". In an email to the teacher, he assured her that he had never given rise to "any kind of sentimental or sexual intimacy" and asked that any communication be limited to work-related matters.
From 19 January 2022, the professor continued to add photos and videos of herself naked and of explicit sexual content to that shared folder. In March, the colleague again sought help from the Vice-Rectorate, and almost simultaneously, the teacher created another folder, titled 'Cloud', with images and recordings of the same nature. The affected party requested that the protocol against sexual harassment be activated, and four days later, it was activated. The contents continued to appear until 27 March.
The UMA opened a disciplinary file in May 2023 and, after processing it, the rector issued a resolution on 5 April 2024. The facts were considered to constitute a "very serious offence of sexual harassment". To determine the punishment, the University took into account "the intensity, repetition, and continuity of the conduct" and agreed on three years of suspension from employment and salary.
Dissatisfied, the professor went to court, believing that her fundamental rights had been violated. In July 2025, the Social Court number 2 partially upheld her claim: it maintained the very serious offence but reduced the suspension to six months. Both the employee and the University appealed to the TSJA, which ruled out that the academic institution had violated any rights and confirmed the initial punishment. The court understands that UMA thoroughly assessed the circumstances and that the chosen suspension was not the most severe possible nor did it reach its maximum duration, set at six years for such offences.
The rector of the University of Málaga, Teodomiro López, when consulted about this, did not wish to enter into the details of the specific case out of respect for the judicial process, but defended the institution's actions in situations of sexual harassment and maintained that the established procedures were followed once the facts came to the University's attention.
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