Employment and payroll compliance in Spain

Risk prevention and health surveillance

Organise a prevention system appropriate to the business: risk assessment, preventive planning, information, training and any necessary protective measures. Office and remote roles also need a risk-based assessment.

Health surveillance must match occupational risks. Medical examinations generally require employee consent, subject to the statutory exceptions; an annual compulsory examination for every employee is not a universal rule. Clinical information must remain confidential.

Working time, breaks and payroll records

Keep the required daily working-time record, including start and finish times, and retain it for four years with access for employees, representatives and the Labour Inspectorate as required. Check special regimes, part-time summaries, overtime and the applicable collective agreement.

A recording tool supports the process, but does not by itself resolve working-time limits, breaks or unreliable entries. Reconcile payroll, Social Security settlements, withholding and employee changes with the underlying records.

Pay register and equal pay

All companies must maintain the required pay register for their workforce, with remuneration broken down as required and the corresponding averages and medians by sex. Observe consultation and access rules; it is not a public list of everyone’s individual salary.

A pay audit is linked to the obligation to have an equality plan. An unexplained difference needs investigation, not an assumption that any gap below a percentage is automatically lawful.

Accessibility and reasonable adjustments

Review access to the workplace, equipment and employment processes, including reasonable adjustments for disability. Safety, accessibility and non-discrimination obligations are not limited to businesses above a workforce threshold.

Prevent harassment and provide a reporting process

Adopt the measures and procedures required to prevent sexual and sex-based harassment and to handle complaints. Address other workplace harassment risks through prevention and appropriate procedures.

Agree the necessary measures with employee representatives where required. Training must fit the applicable duties and policies; there is no single universal annual course that automatically satisfies every obligation.

Regular remote work needs its own review

Under the general private-sector regime, remote work reaching at least 30% over a three-month reference period normally falls within Law 10/2021, subject to its scope and special rules. A collective agreement can set a lower threshold.

Check a written agreement before remote work begins, equipment, expenses, working time, prevention, data security and digital disconnection. Occasional homeworking is not a reason to ignore the duties that still apply.

Protect personnel and payroll information

Define lawful access to HR data, retention and secure sharing with service providers. Inform employees appropriately about monitoring tools and assess proportionality, especially for location, video or biometric data. Consent does not automatically make every monitoring practice lawful.

Equality plans: 50 or more employees

Companies with 50 or more employees must negotiate, implement and register an equality plan under the applicable rules. A collective agreement or an authority’s decision can require a plan in a smaller company too.

The headcount calculation, negotiation, diagnosis, pay audit, registration and monitoring are separate steps. Buying a generic policy does not complete the process.

LGBTI measures: more than 50 employees

The statutory threshold for the planned LGBTI measures is more than 50 employees, rather than the 50-or-more threshold for equality plans. Apply Law 4/2023 and Royal Decree 1026/2024, including the required negotiation and the protocol against harassment or violence.

Check how applicable collective bargaining implements these measures. Anti-discrimination obligations remain relevant below the threshold.

Disability quota and internal reporting

Companies with 50 or more employees generally need at least 2% of their workforce to be workers with recognised disabilities. Apply the statutory headcount rules; exceptional alternative measures require the relevant legal conditions and procedure.

An internal reporting system is generally required for private entities with 50 or more workers, and for certain regulated activities irrespective of size. Law 2/2023 sets requirements for confidentiality, handling and protection against retaliation.

Turn the checklist into an action plan

Assign an owner, deadline and supporting record to each applicable obligation. Recheck after new workplaces, significant hiring, remote-work changes or a change in activity.

Agree which tasks your payroll provider, prevention service, HR team and legal adviser will handle. Payroll outsourcing does not automatically include every employment-law duty.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides and services

• Time tracking
• Guide to hiring
• Payroll service