Rights Map
Map Pay, Time, Rest, Holiday, Leave, Safety, Equality, Representation, Privacy, and Dismissal Rights
Locate each right in the statute, convenio, special law, and actual employment facts.
Read rights in layers
The Workers' Statute supplies the core employee framework: equal treatment, dignity, effective work, timely pay, working time, rest, holiday, leave, representation, contract protection and termination. The applicable collective agreement can improve pay, annual hours, supplements, leave, classification, notice and procedures. Find the live text and salary tables in REGCON. A contract can improve minimum rights but generally cannot lawfully waive them.
For 2026, the national minimum is EUR 1,221 monthly across 14 payments for a full legal schedule, or EUR 17,094 annually, while the convenio can require more. Employers must maintain daily records showing actual start and end and preserve them for four years. Time, breaks, maximum hours, overtime, daily and weekly rest, shifts and annual holiday depend on statute plus convenio. Paid annual holiday cannot be below 30 calendar days.
Add special protections
Occupational safety requires risk assessment, prevention, information, training, suitable equipment and protective action. Equality rules prohibit discrimination and harassment on protected grounds. Workers can organise, elect representatives, join unions, bargain and use collective procedures. Remote workers retain equal rights, equipment and expense protection.
Workplace privacy limits recruitment and personnel data, video, geolocation, biometrics, monitoring and disclosure. The AEPD employment guide requires monitoring to be suitable, necessary, proportionate and transparently explained.
Termination rights depend on the event: resignation, contract end, failed probation, objective or disciplinary dismissal, collective action, substantial change, transfer or employer breach. A label does not decide legality.
Use payroll correction for a clear calculation, worker representation or union for convenio and collective issues, safety channels for prevention, equality or data protection for specialised violations, Inspectorate for administrative enforcement, and conciliation plus social court for binding individual money, status or dismissal relief. A worker can also lawfully decide not to litigate after informed cost and deadline review, but should preserve records and benefit or immigration steps.
Coverage
Check Employee Status, Convenio, Workplace, Employer Size, Contract, Immigration, and Protected Circumstances
Apply protections to the real relationship rather than the employer's label.
Establish employee status
Employee protection generally follows paid work performed voluntarily within another party's organisation and direction. If the company controls schedule, place, clients, prices, tools and work while carrying commercial risk, an invoice or autónomo contract may be a false label. Genuine self-employment uses separate commercial and social-protection rules. Agency workers are employed by the temporary-work company but also receive protections in the user workplace. Fixed-discontinuous, part-time, temporary and training workers remain employees.
Probation can ease termination only under a valid written clause within the convenio or statutory limit. It does not remove pay, registration, safety, time, privacy, equality, union or anti-retaliation rights. An unlawful temporary cause or repeated use can support indefinite status.
Identify the complete rule set
Employer activity, company agreement and territory determine the convenio, not job title alone. Company size can affect worker representation, equality plans, dismissal procedure, pay transparency and other duties. Workplace, remote percentage, group, age, disability, pregnancy, family responsibilities, night work and exposure create additional rules.
Spanish and EU workers and third-country employees can invoke labour standards. A work-authorisation problem does not permit trafficking, violence, unpaid work, unsafe conditions or discrimination, though immigration consequences require parallel specialist advice. Students and minors have extra restrictions. A citizen, family member or self-employed permit holder should still test the actual work relationship.
Identify protected treatment
Employment decisions cannot discriminate because of sex, pregnancy, family status, racial or ethnic origin, nationality where not a lawful requirement, religion or belief, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, health and other protected circumstances. Harassment and retaliation can be separate violations. Compare the stated reason with timing, comparators, comments, criteria and prior treatment.
For ambiguity, ask the employer or representatives to identify the legal employer, convenio code, group and policy in writing. Use REGCON, a union or labour adviser to test scope. Use the Ministry equality services for the relevant specialised support, but distinguish that guidance from the Inspectorate and the time-limited individual social-court claim.
Evidence
Preserve Contract, Convenio, Time, Payroll, Bank, Requests, Medical Notices, Witnesses, and Termination Proof
Create a lawful record that proves dates, work, impact, and requested correction.
Build the employment file
Keep vacancy, offer, complete contract and annexes, convenio and salary table, Social Security alta and work-life record, job description, policies, schedules, daily time records, leave, remote agreement, equipment, payroll, bank credits, expenses and tax documents. Preserve fixed-discontinuous calls, temporary-cause evidence and changes. Save versions outside employer devices without taking trade secrets, client data or unrelated personal information.
For underpayment, build a period-by-period table showing contracted and actual hours, applicable group, base, supplements, overtime, holiday and amounts paid. For safety, record hazard, location, exposure, witnesses, photos where lawful, reports, equipment, training, near misses and requests. For discrimination or harassment, keep exact words, dates, context, comparators, witnesses, reporting and retaliation. A factual contemporaneous diary can link other records.
Use sensitive evidence safely
Medical incapacity notices should follow the official process. Give managers only necessary work-impact information; clinical details belong with authorised health or prevention professionals. Restrict harassment, union, immigration and protected-address evidence. The AEPD guide treats employment monitoring and sensitive worker data with heightened purpose, necessity and access safeguards.
Ask before secretly recording a conversation or copying restricted material; legality and usefulness depend on participation, content, privacy, purpose and procedure. Do not impersonate, hack accounts or induce wrongdoing. A witness should record what they personally observed, not coordinate a story.
Repair gaps
If the employer refuses time or contract data, request it in writing. Use SEPE communicated data, Social Security history, bank records, calendars, access logs, location evidence, clients and colleagues as lawful substitutes. If cash was paid, record amount, date, payer, envelope, message and corroborating schedule. Preserve the full termination letter, delivery method, date received, refusal to sign and any words such as resignation or probation.
Before filing, reconcile employer identity, workplace, dates, group, schedule, pay, immigration status and requested remedy. Create an index and chronology. Keep originals, submit copies unless required, obtain a receipt, and redact unrelated identity and health data from shared advice packs.
Action Sequence
Raise the Issue, Use Representation, Report Enforcement Breaches, Conciliate, and Protect Urgent Rights
Escalate in a sequence that does not sacrifice safety or court timing.
Use a deadline-safe sequence
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Stabilise safety and status. If there is immediate danger, violence, coercion, passport retention or trafficking, seek emergency, police or specialist help. Obtain immigration advice where employer control affects status.
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Calendar the earliest legal deadline. Use the date of dismissal, change, sanction, unpaid wage or discriminatory act. Do this before meetings or informal promises.
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Preserve evidence. Save records outside work systems, build a chronology and identify the legal employer and desired result.
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Raise a precise written issue where safe. State fact, date, applicable contract, convenio or law, evidence, requested correction and response date. Avoid accusations broader than the evidence.
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Use worker representation or a union. They can identify the convenio, compare pay and group, accompany meetings, raise collective issues and help protect against isolation.
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Choose the specialist route. Use prevention delegates and the safety authority for risk, an equality service for discrimination support, the data-protection officer or AEPD route for privacy, and Social Security for affiliation facts.
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Use labour inspection for administrative enforcement. The Inspectorate worker portal covers labour, equality, safety, Social Security, employment and foreign-worker breaches. Select a formal complaint or mailbox communication deliberately and keep proof.
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File required conciliation or mediation. Many individual employment claims require this before social court. Correctly identify employer, claims and dates, and preserve the filing receipt.
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Bring the social-court claim on time. Ask for the appropriate wages, classification, recognition, nullity, reinstatement, compensation, protective order or other relief. Personal appearance and representation rules depend on the stage.
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Verify implementation. Check payroll, group, schedule, alta, policy, safety measure, reinstatement or payment. Escalate noncompliance through enforcement, not repeated informal requests.
An internal investigation can be valuable but does not automatically suspend a legal deadline. Likewise, Inspectorate, equality, data-protection, criminal and social-court processes can coexist because they decide different outcomes.
Money and Cost
Calculate Wage Shortfall, Overtime, Holiday, Final Pay, Severance, Advice, Legal Aid, and Court Exposure
Quantify the claim and the cost of enforcing it before choosing a remedy.
Calculate the economic difference
For each pay period, identify convenio group, hours, base, supplements, extra payments, overtime, nights, holidays, expenses and amounts actually paid. Compare the annual cash floor with the 2026 minimum-wage decree, but use the higher convenio amount where applicable. Add unpaid holiday or final settlement only under the correct rule. Keep gross employment rights separate from tax and contribution adjustments.
Termination money depends on the legal event, contract, salary base, service and outcome. A temporary-contract end, objective dismissal, unfair dismissal, null dismissal, resignation and employer breach do not share one severance formula. A finiquito settles accrued items and does not itself prove the termination was lawful. Calculate alternative scenarios before accepting a settlement.
Price enforcement
Internal requests, worker representation, public labour information and Inspectorate filing are free. Union help depends on membership and waiting or service rules. A graduado social or lawyer may charge consultation, fixed, hourly or success-related fees; request written scope, tax, expenses, settlement authority and appeal cost. Translation, expert evidence, medical reports, travel, notarised authority and lost time can add cost.
Social proceedings have different representation and cost rules from ordinary civil litigation. A lawyer is not universally mandatory at first instance, but complex evidence, fundamental rights, high value, immigration interaction, urgent relief or appeal can justify one. Legal aid depends on current financial and merits conditions and may cover only specified services. Do not assume an Inspectorate complaint awards personal wages or that a successful claim reimburses every professional cost.
Compare realistic outcomes
Build a table with amount, deadline, evidence strength, desired ongoing relationship, enforcement route, time, professional cost, insolvency risk and tax or benefit consequences. Ask whether a prompt payroll correction, conciliation settlement, collective solution or judgment best delivers the result. A settlement should identify gross and net treatment, contribution correction, certificate, confidentiality, payment date, default and the claims actually released.
Never pay an intermediary for a guaranteed inspection, judgment, appointment or immigration cure. Use a registered professional, union, bar orientation or qualified nonprofit and retain an invoice and engagement terms.
Deadlines
Protect Wage, Holiday, Conciliation, Dismissal, Discrimination, Safety, and Status-Change Deadlines
The shortest possible clock governs the immediate plan.
Separate limitation from expiry
A dismissal challenge generally expires after 20 business days from termination, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and court-seat holidays under the Social Jurisdiction Act. Sanctions, substantial changes, transfers and other actions can have their own short periods. Wage claims normally use a longer limitation framework, but each accrued payment has its own date. Obtain current advice rather than borrowing one deadline for every claim.
Correct pre-court conciliation or mediation affects time under procedural rules. Preserve the signed filing, date, claims, respondent and outcome. An HR complaint, union discussion, Inspectorate communication, equality or AEPD route, benefit application, sick leave or employer promise does not automatically suspend the social-court clock.
Track ongoing rights
Holiday belongs to the relevant year and agreed calendar, with special carryover rules for specified incapacity or family situations. A dispute close to proposed dates may use an expedited procedure. Payroll correction, time records, safety action and accommodations should have written response and review dates. Discrimination, harassment, retaliation and dangerous exposure can require urgent protective measures before a final case.
In serious imminent danger, Article 21 of the Occupational Risk Prevention Act gives a worker the right to interrupt activity and leave where necessary when the activity presents a serious and imminent risk to life or health. Report the danger immediately when possible and preserve the condition, instruction, witness, and notification evidence. Apply this to genuine serious imminent risk, not as a general dispute tactic.
Manage changes without losing proof
During a pending claim, continue lawful work and comply with reasonable instructions unless advised otherwise. Document retaliation, changed schedules, isolation, pay or dismissal. A favourable inspection does not automatically change payroll or restore a job; pursue the individual remedy.
After job loss, register for employment and claim benefits on their separate clocks. Check immigration status and any employer-change duty. After a move, graduation, separation or departure, preserve Spanish electronic access, contract, payroll, work-life and case receipts. Update counsel and authorities with an address for service. A later job does not necessarily erase a prior claim, but mitigation, unemployment and immigration facts can affect consequences.
Enforcement
Respond to Retaliation, Passport Retention, Cash Underpayment, False Self-Employment, Harassment, Unsafe Work, and Forced Resignation
Protect immediate safety and status while preserving labour, equality, criminal, and court remedies.
Act on urgent coercion and danger
Violence, threats, confinement, passport retention, debt coercion, trafficking, sexual assault or immediate physical danger requires emergency, police or specialised victim help. Do not wait for payroll or an Inspectorate appointment. Preserve copies of identity, location, employer, transport, messages and a safe contact, but do not confront where it increases risk. Migrant status needs confidential immigration advice alongside labour protection.
For serious imminent occupational risk, move to safety and notify the employer or prevention channel as soon as possible. Document the hazard and response. For continuing lower-level risks, use prevention representatives, risk service and Inspectorate. Protective equipment is not a substitute for eliminating controllable hazards at source.
Recognise concealed employment abuse
Cash wages, lower declared hours, missing alta, false invoices, withheld tips, forced housing deductions, unpaid trials and sham temporary or autónomo status require actual-work evidence. Preserve schedules, tasks, control, clients, tools, bank or cash proof and witnesses. Ask Social Security and labour advisers to assess registration and contributions.
Harassment and discrimination evidence needs restricted handling. Use the employer protocol where safe, but avoid broad distribution of health, sexual, racial, union or immigration data. The Ministry equality service directory can identify ground-specific support. Criminal hate, violence or stalking routes differ from employment relief.
Protect against retaliation and forced exit
Record the protected report or right exercised, decision maker, timing, adverse change, explanation and comparators. Do not sign a resignation, probation failure, settlement or confession under pressure. If access is cut or the employer says not to return, request written clarification without delaying the dismissal deadline. A resignation can affect benefits and immigration as well as the labour claim.
Use worker representatives, unions, Inspectorate, equality and data-protection bodies, Social Security, conciliation and social court for their distinct functions. Legal aid, bar orientation, migrant organisations and specialised victim services can help. Qualified representation is proportionate for urgent safety or retaliation, fundamental rights, status-dependent workers, complex false self-employment, high unpaid wages, dismissal, or interim relief. Bring a safe chronology, employer identities, status, evidence index, termination facts, desired outcome and the earliest deadline.