Employment law and workers' rights in Spain

Spanish employment law incorporates all European Union (EU) legislation relating to worker protection, including the maximum number of hours a person can do their job for per week or per day, how much time off they can have and how much they must be paid for this, as well as ensuring workers do not suffer unjustified discrimination.

Key features of Spanish labour law

Beyond the basic EU legal framework, Spain's employment law covers profession-specific and payroll-related aspects, job contract types, and general working conditions. Some of these features include:

• The requirement for a job contract to be in place, which can be verbal or written
• The requirement of an employer to retain income tax on the employee's behalf, pay this accordingly to the Spanish tax authorities
• The requirement for an employer to pay Social Security (national insurance) on the employee's behalf, totalling 33.4% of gross pay. Companies face serious penalties if they declare fewer hours worked in order to reduce their Social Security bill
• The minimum national wage that must be paid to any employee. This is currently €15,876 per year before tax, given in 14 monthly payments – a double salary in August and at Christmas – for a full-time job. A minimum-wage worker will typically receive a net income of about €1,165 a month if they are paid in 12 annual instalments instead.

Working conditions in Spain are normally set through collective bargaining between companies and workforce unions. These are enshrined in a collective agreement (convenio colectivo) which establishes the minimum rights of employees in a given sector, trade or profession. Once a convenio colectivo has been produced and signed by both the company and the union, employers are obliged by law to adhere to it. Differences between the convenio and actual working conditions are only permitted where the latter are more favourable to employees, not less so.

Here's a guide to the general features of Spanish employment law – job contracts, equality, union membership, health and safety, and retirement. For detailed information on working hours and paid time off, take a look at Working in Spain: Paid time off and working hours.

What are the different types of contracts in Spain?

Job contracts can be written or verbal. A verbal contract is legally binding, but must be supplied in writing if the employee requests it.

It is illegal to work for a company without a contract. However, following the financial crisis, Spain's government created, in 2012, the figure of a TRADE (Trabajador Económicamente Dependiente, or Financially-Dependent Worker) giving certain freelancers rights comparable with those of contracted employees. The TRADE framework applies to a self-employed worker who receives at least 75% of their professional income from one company, and allows them sick leave, maternity and paternity leave, a certain level of compensation for termination, and at least 18 days' paid holiday leave – plus public holidays – per year.

Types of contracts permitted under Spanish law are, typically:

• Permanent, or indefinite (indefinido)
• Temporary (temporal)
• Training (de formación)
• For becarios (work experience placements for recent graduates)

Indefinite contracts in Spain

Permanent or indefinite contracts offer full protection to employees. Any contract which is not explicitly permanent, but which is deemed so by law as described above, confers the same rights. Employees with a contrato indefinido have the right to redundancy pay, at a minimum of 20 days' salary per year of service. Unfair dismissals (despidos improcedentes), require severance of at least 45 days' salary per year of service. Employers must justify terminations, citing reasons like company's financial circumstances or closure. Where the termination is related to the employee's conduct or performance, the burden of proof is on the employer in the event the dismissed worker seeks legal action.

Employees and employers alike must give a minimum of 15 days' notice if they wish to terminate a job contract.

Temporary contracts in Spain

Temporary contracts cannot be longer than six months in a one-year period. They are used for short-term jobs, or as probation for permanent jobs, in place of a probation period. In this case, the employee would be given an indefinite contract when the temporary version expires.

Any employee on a temporary contract which has been renewed multiple times becomes permanent after one year, or after 18 months when temporary job contracts have been granted non-continuously within a period of three years.

Seasonal jobs may use temporary or fixed-discontinuous (contrato fijo-discontinuo) contracts. Fixed-discontinuous contracts are permanent with set non-working periods which are unpaid. The worker has the same rights as a permanent employee, but is able to claim unemployment benefit or take on other temporary jobs during lay-off periods.

A temporary contract has no minimum specified period and can even be for just one day, such as for film extras.

Training contracts

Training contracts can be given for work experience employees who have not taken a degree-level qualification, and are aged 21 or under 21. Companies do not have to pay these employees the minimum wage – unless they want to – but are obliged to pay at least €300 a month to cover travel costs and other expenses. A training contract is for a minimum of six months, and a maximum of two years.

Work experience contracts

Work experience contract employees are colloquially known as becarios. They are aimed at people who have recently completed academic or vocational education for a specific profession, but need to complete a certain number of hours in the workplace to be able to qualify. Otherwise, they are granted to graduates or the equivalent to provide them with work-related training to increase their chances of meaningful employment.

Work experience contracts must last at least six months and cannot run for more than two years. After two years the employee is considered permanent if they remain with the company. They can only be granted within four years of completing a degree or vocational equivalent. Becarios must be paid at least the national minimum wage.

How does Spanish labour law guarantee equality?

Spanish labour legislation actively seeks to achieve equal pay – but, at present, only in large companies. Spain's government has made it compulsory for all companies with at least 50 workers to open up their salary information to public audit, and demonstrate that any remuneration differences between male and female workers in roles of a similar calibre and qualification level have nothing to do with gender. These firms are, additionally, required to justify the reasons if the pay gap between different genders in the same professional category is more than 25%.

Job legislation in Spain prohibits discrimination against workers based on gender, gender identity, civil status, parental status (including pregnancy), race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, faith or religion.

In practice, the prohibition of discrimination by nationality only applies once the worker is employed on a permanent contract – companies can refuse a candidates if they are not an EU citizen. Non-EU citizens, who need a work visa (visado de trabajo) to take up paid labour in Spain, can only acquire this permit if they are sponsored by an employer – and said employer is required to justify why the job cannot be done by an EU citizen. This rule does not apply to British nationals who were legally resident in Spain prior to the year 2021, when the UK left the EU. These expatriates do not need a work permit, and must be treated as EU citizens for all legal purposes in their country of residence. You'll find out more about this in Working in Spain after Brexit.

Spanish workplaces are required by law to make reasonable adaptations to the workplace and working practices to accommodate people with disabilities. At least 2% of workers in companies with more than 50 employees must have a recognised disability.

Can you join a union in Spain?

Spanish companies are not permitted to discriminate against anyone for being a member of a union.

Unions or employees collectively have the right to strike if they consider their working conditions, pay, or both do not meet levels expected within their industry. However, strikes convened by cross-profession trade unions can only be organised when the industry as a whole is affected by the issue that causes the industrial action.

Whilst Spanish workers have the legal right to go on strike, they will not be paid for the hours or days when they do so. This means strikes only tend to go ahead as a last resort, where all negotiation attempts have failed.

Does Spanish employment law protect health and safety?

All companies in Spain are obliged to have a workplace safety and risk management system in place. Employees are permitted to raise health and safety concerns, make suggestions for improvement, and must be listened to. Where their jobs present potential health hazards of any description, they must be offered specialist training in these areas.

Companies with remote workers are not exempt from following health and safety legislation, even though they have no control over the physical workplace of these people. Laws governing home-workers' wellbeing are relatively new and still developing, but currently include the 'right to switch off' and to a 'private life'. This means the workers are permitted to refuse to take calls, answer emails or otherwise carry out tasks relating to their jobs beyond their specific hours, on days off, or when they are on sick leave or annual holiday leave.

What does Spanish labour law say about retirement?

At present, State pension age in Spain is 65, although this is gradually rising – most of today's workforce will retire at 67 under current legislation. Early retirement is not allowed, except under very specific circumstances. These include:

• Having made a minimum of 35 years' worth of work-related contributions to the Social Security system. In this case, the person can retire up to two years before their scheduled State pension age
• In the event of redundancy, business closure or the employer's death within a maximum of four years before State retirement age, as long as they have contributed to the Social Security system for at least 33 years.
• Disabled employees, or those whose work involves exceptional health and safety risk, can retire at age 60, as long as they have made at least 35 years' worth of Social Security contributions.

After a certain age – normally a minimum of 60, but sometimes older – employees can opt to reduce their working hours by between 20% and 25% and claim the corresponding amount of their State pension, as long as they have already contributed at least 35 years' worth of Social Security payments.

Self-employed workers are covered by the same retirement legislation as employees.

Any worker who has contributed at least 15 years' worth of Social Security payments can retire when they reach the requisite age, but their State pension will be on a pro-rata basis. For a full retirement pension, a worker has to contribute for a minimum of 35 years.

If you're considering moving to Spain and know you need to work, you are likely to be seeking guidance on what to do to get started. To help you, take a look at How to secure your first job in Spain.