Your company just crossed 50 employees in Spain: here are all the obligations that now apply

The 50-employee threshold: a major shift in the regulatory framework

In Spanish labour and compliance law, headcount is not merely a statistic — it is a legal trigger. When a company’s workforce reaches 50 employees, it enters a significantly more demanding regulatory regime covering five main areas: employee representation, gender equality, pay transparency, internal reporting obligations, and harassment prevention.

Many companies that grow organically — through project wins, seasonal peaks, or gradual expansion — cross this threshold without a clear moment of recognition that the legal framework has changed. The cost of discovering the gap during a labour inspection, an employment tribunal claim, or an investor due diligence is always higher than the cost of proactive preparation.

The five principal obligations

1. Internal Reporting Channel (Ley 2/2023, Whistleblowing Law): The Spanish transposition of EU Directive 2019/1937 requires all companies with 50 or more employees to operate a functioning internal reporting channel. The channel must be confidential, managed by a designated responsible person, and capable of acknowledging reports within 7 working days and responding substantively within 3 months. The company may operate the channel internally or outsource its management to a third party such as BMC. Fines for missing or non-compliant channels reach up to 300,000 euros.

2. Equality Plan: Mandatory for companies with 50 or more employees since 2019 (with phased implementation completed by 2022). The plan must be negotiated with employee representatives, registered at the REGCON, and reviewed every four years. It encompasses a gender equality diagnostic, a pay audit, work-life balance measures, and a harassment prevention framework.

3. Works Council (Comite de Empresa): The Workers’ Statute requires the establishment of a works council — a multi-member elected employee representative body — in companies with 50 or more employees. The works council has information and consultation rights over a wide range of company decisions, including major restructurings, working condition changes, and collective redundancies.

4. Pay Register and Pay Audit: All companies must maintain a pay register showing average remuneration by professional group, level, and gender. Companies with 50 or more employees that have an equality plan must also carry out a pay audit verifying that no unjustified gender pay gaps exist for roles of equal value.

5. Harassment Prevention Protocol: Technically required for all companies regardless of size, the sexual harassment and gender-based harassment prevention and response protocol is in practice most actively enforced in companies with 50 or more employees, where labour inspectors specifically check for its existence and adequacy.

Integration with criminal compliance

Companies at this size level should also consider whether they need to implement or strengthen a criminal compliance programme. While not strictly mandated by employee headcount, a formal crime prevention model reduces the criminal liability of the legal entity itself — and its directors — in the event of offences committed by employees or managers. The whistleblowing channel required by Ley 2/2023 is typically integrated into this broader compliance framework.

At BMC we deliver integrated compliance programmes that address all these requirements coherently, avoiding the duplication of policies and documentation that results from addressing each obligation independently.