📌 Special employment relationships meet the general employment requirements but need specific rules, whereas excluded relationships fail a requirement or are governed by their own regulations, such as civil servants’ rules.
★ Must-know
📌 Material sources of labour law are the public institutions with authority to create rules, whereas formal sources are the rules those institutions create.
📌 Under the principle of normative hierarchy, a lower-ranking rule cannot contradict a higher-ranking rule.
📌 When two rules apply to a labour dispute, the minimum-standard principle applies the rule more favourable to the worker.
Further detail
Spain belongs to the International Labour Organization and the European Union, both of which develop labour rules.
Under in dubio pro operario, a judge interpreting an ambiguous law interprets it in favour of the worker.
Workers cannot waive rights granted to them by rules.
Under the more-beneficial-condition principle, a worker retains more favourable contractual conditions even if a later law worsens them.
Material sources create rules; formal sources are the rules created.
Workers’ basic rights include: the right to work and freely choose a profession, the right to join a union, the right to collective bargaining, the right to strike, the right to assemble, the right to information, consultation and participation at the enterprise
Rights arising from employment include: professional promotion and training, non-discrimination, physical integrity and workplace safety, respect for privacy, timely payment of agreed remuneration, individual exercise of employment-related claims
Workers must fulfil their job duties in good faith, observe adopted safety and hygiene measures, and follow employer instructions unless they are illegal, affect private life, undermine dignity or create a health risk.
Employers must pay wages, provide effective work, facilitate professional promotion and training, avoid discrimination, respect physical integrity and privacy, comply with workplace safety measures, and fulfil Social Security obligations.
★ Must-know
Working time is the time a worker spends doing their job each day; its duration is agreed by collective agreement or employment contract and cannot exceed an average of 40 hours per week calculated annually.
Under regular scheduling, the daily maximum is 9 hours, or 8 hours for workers under 18; the minimum rest between working days is 12 hours, or 7 hours for shift work.
Weekly rest is at least 1.5 uninterrupted days and may be accumulated over 14 days as 11 working days followed by 3 rest days; workers under 18 receive 2 uninterrupted, non-accumulable rest days.
Irregular scheduling varies weekly hours, remains within an average maximum of 40 hours per week and may cover at most 10% of annual working hours; minimum daily and weekly rest must be respected.
Further detail
📌 A continuous working day has no interruption, whereas a split working day is divided into two periods by an interruption.
📌 A break during a continuous working day is required when work exceeds 6 consecutive hours and must last at least 15 minutes; for minors, it is required after more than 4.5 hours and must last at least 30 minutes, and is unpaid unless a collective agreement says otherwise.
★ Must-know
📌 Annual paid vacation is at least 30 calendar days, is reduced proportionally if the worker does not work the whole year, and its dates must be communicated at least 2 months in advance.
Further detail
A worker is entitled to 15 calendar days of paid leave for marriage and 1 day for moving their usual residence.
Paid leave for the death of a relative up to the second degree is 2 days, or 4 days if travel is required; paid leave for the serious accident or illness, hospitalization, or qualifying surgery of such a relative is 5 days.
Other paid leave includes necessary time for public personal duties and prenatal examinations or birth-preparation techniques, and 4 days for each 3 months of temporary relocation.
Vacation duration cannot be reduced because of:
★ Must-know
📌 During a trial period, either party may end the contract without stating a cause or paying compensation, but no trial period may be set if the worker has already performed the same functions for that employer.
Further detail
📌 A worker may enter a valid contract at 18 or older, or from age 16 if legally emancipated, authorised by parents or guardians, or living independently with their consent.
📌 An employment contract may be written or verbal, but when it lasts longer than 4 weeks the employer must provide written information about its essential terms.
COC: Consent, Object, Cause.
★ Must-know
📌 An indefinite contract has no end date and makes the worker a permanent employee, whereas a fixed-term contract has a clear, specific and valid temporary cause and an end date.
📌 Part-time work is a working-time arrangement, not a separate contract type, and may be fixed-term or indefinite; overtime is prohibited except in cases of force majeure.
Further detail
📌 If a worker’s temporary contracts exceed 18 months within a 24-month period, the worker becomes permanent.
A production-circumstances contract for occasional, unforeseeable needs lasts at most 6 months, extendable to 12 months if the collective agreement provides for it, and carries compensation of 12 days’ salary per year of service or the proportional amount.
A production-circumstances contract for occasional, foreseeable and limited-duration needs, such as Christmas, may last at most 90 non-consecutive days per year and carries compensation of 12 days’ salary per year of service or the proportional amount.
A substitution contract covers a worker with a reserved job, fills another worker’s reduced hours, or temporarily covers a position during selection; the selection-cover period is at most 3 months unless the collective agreement sets a shorter limit.
A training contract alternating work with training lasts at least 3 months and at most 2 years, has no trial period, and sets work time at no more than 65% of the applicable working time in year one and 85% in year two.
A professional-practice contract lasts at least 6 months and at most 1 year and must be entered within 3 years after studies end, or within 5 years for a worker with a disability.
★ Must-know
📌 Functional mobility assigns different duties if the worker has the required qualifications and the change does not undermine the worker’s dignity.
Further detail
Geographical mobility means requiring a worker to work at a centre different from the one stated in the employment contract; a collective transfer affects the whole centre and may be based on economic, technical, organisational or production reasons.
Substantial modifications may affect: working time, schedule, distribution of working time, shift-work arrangements, remuneration system or salary amount, work and performance systems, duties beyond the permitted limits of functional mobility
Suspension causes include mutual agreement, temporary incapacity, public office or union representation, pregnancy or breastfeeding risk, pre-trial deprivation of liberty, disciplinary suspension, strike, lawful business closure, gender-based violence, birth and care of a child, adoption and foster care.
Suspension for birth and care of a child lasts 16 weeks, and suspension for adoption or foster care lasts 16 weeks per parent.
A worker who establishes victim status for gender-based violence may suspend the contract for 6 months, extendable in 3-month periods up to a maximum of 18 months.
Suspension pauses work temporarily; extinction ends the employment relationship.
★ Must-know
Disciplinary dismissal ends employment because of a serious and culpable breach; objective dismissal relies on specified individual grounds; and collective dismissal ends a significant number of jobs for economic, technical, organisational or production reasons.
Objective dismissal requires written notice 15 days in advance, compensation of 20 days’ salary per year of service up to 12 monthly payments, and 6 paid hours per week during notice to seek another job.
A worker has 20 working days from the dismissal date to challenge the dismissal in the labour court.
A justified dismissal is procedurally compliant and supported by the stated cause; an unjustified dismissal lacks proof of the cause or fails formal requirements; and a null dismissal is based on prohibited discrimination or violates fundamental rights and public freedoms.
For an unjustified dismissal, the employer may reinstate the worker and pay wages lost from dismissal to judgment notification, or refuse reinstatement and pay 33 days’ salary per year of service up to 24 months.
Further detail
📌 Disciplinary dismissal must be communicated in writing by a dismissal letter stating the grounds, date, place and effective date.
📌 A null dismissal requires reinstatement and payment of processing wages from dismissal until notification of the judgment.
Dismissal outcomes
| Type | Ground or finding | Main effect |
|---|---|---|
| Disciplinary justified | Serious culpable breach proved | No compensation; unemployment benefit is available |
| Objective justified | Objective cause and formal requirements established | 20 days per service year, up to 12 monthly payments |
| Unjustified | Cause unproved or formal requirements unmet | Reinstatement with lost wages or compensation |
| Null | Prohibited discrimination or fundamental-rights violation | Reinstatement and processing wages |
Take a 32-question practice quiz on Employment Law and Contracts, with every answer explained.
1. What does labour law govern?
2. Which timeline correctly describes the Workers’ Statute?
Memorize the key concepts of Employment Law and Contracts with 74 flashcards.
What does labour law govern?
Employment relationships between workers and employers.
What is an employment relationship?
A relationship between a worker performing work and the employer for whom it is performed.
What makes work personal in an employment relationship?
The worker cannot be replaced at will.
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