Spain

• New Year’s Day
• Epiphany
• Good Friday
• Labour Day
• Assumption Day
• Hispanic Day
• All Saints Day
• Constitution Day
• Immaculate Conception Day
• Christmas Day.

Working Hours

Normal working hours must average 40 hours per week, calculated on an annual basis. The actual number of normal working hours may never exceed nine per day.

Minimum Wage

The current minimum wage in Spain is EUR 1,184 per month.

Employee Tax

Annual income	Tax rate
Up to EUR 12,450	19%
EUR 12,451 - 20,200	24%
EUR 20,201 - 35,200	30%
EUR 35,201 - 60,000	37%
EUR 60,001 - 300,000	45%
More than EUR 300,000	47%
Social security contribution	6.45%
Solidarity contribution	0.12%*

* The rate will gradually increase until 2045 (with the final rate will being 1% for an employee).

Bonuses

There are no statutory bonus schemes in Spain. However, some employers in Spain will pay both 13th and 14th salaries, depending on the terms of the collective bargaining agreement applicable to the enterprise.

In Spain, employment contracts may be in writing or verbal, but a verbal contract is very unusual.  Contracts in Spain are sent to the Public State Employment Service within 10 days of issue.

Contracts must include:

• Identity of the parties, including company and workplace address
• Start date
• Job category or professional group
• Working hours
• Initial basic salary plus supplements
• Number of days’ holiday
• Notice periods
• The collective agreement applicable to the employment relationship,

Fixed-term contracts are permitted up to 6 months. Fixed-term employees are entitled to the same benefits as full-time employees, such as annual leave, sick leave, and maternity leave.

Annual Leave

In Spain, holidays may be agreed individually or collectively and may not be less than 30 calendar days.  Holidays cannot be replaced by financial compensation.

Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to sick pay if they have worked in Spain for more than 180 days within the five years prior to illness. During the sickness absence, employees must obtain a medical certificate and are entitled to receive a public social security benefit as follows:

• Days 1-3: Unpaid (no benefit is paid for the first three days).
• Days 4-20: Paid at 60% of the employee's salary.
• Days 21 onwards: Paid at 75% of the employee's salary.

During the sickness absence, the employment contract is suspended. Typically, employers have no statutory obligation to pay employees who are absent due to sickness. But some collective agreements require employers to top up the state sickness benefit.

Parental Leave

Employees can take a maximum of 16 weeks’ maternity leave.  At least six weeks must be taken immediately after the birth. Social security pays employees while they are on maternity leave.

The father of a newborn child can take up to 16 weeks of paid absence in the first year of the child’s life. An employee on paternity leave in Spain is paid 100% of their salary as long as they have made the appropriate contributions to the social security agency.

Termination Process

There are three types of dismissal in Spain:

• Improcedente: this is classed as an unfair dismissal;
• Objetivo: this is an objective dismissal and includes economic, productive, and structural reasons, and also includes employee performance issues
• Disciplinary: a disciplinary dismissal is generally related to misconduct.

Dismissal for any reason that falls outside objective and disciplinary reasons would be considered unfair.

Notice of termination must be given in writing. Employers must offer compensation entitlements and give at least 15 days' notice.

Severance Pay

Both unfair and objective dismissals must include indemnification. There is no indemnification due when an employee resigns or is terminated in a disciplinary dismissal.

For unfair or objective causes, indemnification must be paid as follows:

• Unfair Dismissal: 33 days' pay per year worked with a maximum of 24 months' pay.
• Objective Dismissal: 20 days pay per year worked with a maximum of 12 months' pay.

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