Labour Compliance: Stay Compliant Before the Inspection Arrives

Employment compliance in Spain encompasses the set of legal obligations employers must fulfil under the Workers' Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores, Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015) and a series of specific regulations enacted since 2019, including mandatory daily working-time registration (Article 34.9 ET, since 2019), equality plans and pay gap registers mandatory for companies with 50 or more employees (Royal Decree 902/2020), sexual harassment and LGBTI harassment prevention protocols now compulsory for the same threshold (Law 15/2022), remote work agreements (Law 10/2021), and the obligation to implement a whistleblowing channel under Law 2/2023. The Labour Inspectorate (Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social) enforces these obligations and can impose fines reaching EUR 225,018 per serious infringement under the Law on Infringements and Sanctions in the Social Order (LISOS).

Our employment compliance team combines employment law specialists with regulatory compliance experts to deliver a service that goes beyond one-off advice — a continuous monitoring and update programme that keeps your company ahead of its obligations.

A Moving Target: Spanish Employment Law Since 2019

Spanish employment compliance has been transformed over the past five years. The labour reforms of 2019, 2021, and 2022, the Remote Work Act, the Trans Law, the Riders Law, and the emerging pay transparency framework have created an environment where obligations accumulate faster than many companies can implement them. The Labour Inspectorate has significantly intensified its enforcement, with particular focus on working-time registration, equality plans, and gender pay gaps. Companies that managed their employment obligations correctly for years are finding themselves exposed by gaps they were not aware of.

Starting with the Audit

Our service always begins with an employment compliance audit: a structured review of every obligation relative to the company’s size, sector, and applicable collective bargaining agreement. This audit is the instrument that distinguishes the urgent (a gap that could generate an infringement notice in the next inspection) from the important (an obligation to implement over the coming months). The output is a prioritised action plan that allocates remediation effort rationally, starting from the highest-risk exposures.

The Equality Plan: the Most Complex Obligation

For companies with 50 or more employees, the equality plan is the most operationally complex mandatory requirement. Its preparation requires a prior diagnosis negotiated with the employees’ legal representatives, the design of measures across multiple areas (recruitment, training, pay, work-life balance, harassment prevention, communication), and registration in the REGCON. A poorly prepared or unregistered plan is, for all practical purposes, equivalent to having no plan: the company remains exposed to the same sanctions. Our team manages the complete negotiation and registration process.

Intersection with Employment Litigation

The relationship between an employment compliance programme and employment law litigation is direct. Well-designed compliance systems do not eliminate employment disputes, but significantly reduce the likelihood that they succeed: courts view the existence of documented compliance systems very positively, especially in harassment and discrimination cases. We design harassment protocols that are procedurally sound enough to be used as a positive defence in any subsequent proceedings, not merely as a paper obligation.

Working-Time Registration: The Most Inspected Obligation

The obligation to maintain daily working-time records for all employees (Article 34.9 ET, in force since May 2019) is the most frequently inspected employment compliance requirement in Spain. The Labour Inspectorate has issued thousands of infringement notices in the years since the obligation took effect. Beyond the direct fine risk, the absence of working-time records is treated as an adverse inference in overtime and salary claims: without records showing hours actually worked, the burden effectively shifts to the employer to disprove the employee’s claims. Our compliance audit always assesses whether the time registration system in use meets the regulatory standard — not just whether a system exists, but whether it records in the format and with the detail the Inspectorate requires.

Pay Transparency and the Gender Pay Gap Register

Royal Decree 902/2020 introduced mandatory pay equality and pay gap registers for companies with 50 or more employees. EU Directive 2023/970 on pay transparency — which Spain must transpose by June 2026 — will extend pay information obligations further: employees will have a right to information about pay ranges for their own and comparable positions. Our payroll services team coordinates with the employment compliance function to ensure that remuneration systems are structured consistently with pay equality requirements before the transposition deadline.

Remote Work and Digital Disconnection

The Remote Work Act (Ley 10/2021) requires a specific written agreement for regular remote workers covering equipment provision, expense reimbursement, data protection arrangements, health and safety conditions, and working-time rules. Companies that have formalised remote work informally — or not at all — since 2021 are exposed to both inspection risk and employment claims. The right to digital disconnection requires specific policies and training; failure to implement them is an infringement and increasingly relevant in employment litigation. Our employment law team designs these policies in conjunction with the compliance audit.

The Whistleblowing Channel: Employment Law Dimension

Law 2/2023 requires companies with 50 or more employees to implement an internal whistleblowing channel — an obligation that sits at the intersection of employment compliance and data protection. The channel’s scope must include reporting of employment law violations alongside criminal and regulatory infringements. We design whistleblowing systems that integrate the employment compliance dimension from the outset, ensuring that the channel is credible for the full range of reports it is designed to receive.

Working-Time Registration: The Most Inspected Obligation

The obligation to maintain daily working-time records for all employees (Article 34.9 ET, in force since May 2019) is the most frequently inspected employment compliance requirement in Spain. The Labour Inspectorate has issued thousands of infringement notices in the years since the obligation took effect. Beyond the direct fine risk, the absence of working-time records is treated as an adverse inference in overtime and salary claims: without records showing hours actually worked, the burden effectively shifts to the employer to disprove the employee’s claims. Our compliance audit always assesses whether the time registration system in use meets the regulatory standard — not just whether a system exists, but whether it records in the format and with the detail the Inspectorate requires.

Pay Transparency and the Gender Pay Gap Register

Royal Decree 902/2020 introduced mandatory pay equality and pay gap registers for companies with 50 or more employees. EU Directive 2023/970 on pay transparency — which Spain must transpose by June 2026 — will extend pay information obligations further: employees will have a right to information about pay ranges for their own and comparable positions. Our payroll services team coordinates with the employment compliance function to ensure that remuneration systems are structured consistently with pay equality requirements before the transposition deadline.

Remote Work and Digital Disconnection

The Remote Work Act (Ley 10/2021) requires a specific written agreement for regular remote workers covering equipment provision, expense reimbursement, data protection arrangements, health and safety conditions, and working-time rules. Companies that have formalised remote work informally — or not at all — since 2021 are exposed to both inspection risk and employment claims. The right to digital disconnection requires specific policies and training; failure to implement them is an infringement and increasingly relevant in employment litigation. Our employment law team designs these policies in conjunction with the compliance audit.

The Whistleblowing Channel: Employment Law Dimension

Law 2/2023 requires companies with 50 or more employees to implement an internal whistleblowing channel — an obligation that sits at the intersection of employment compliance and data protection. The channel’s scope must include reporting of employment law violations alongside criminal and regulatory infringements. We design whistleblowing systems that integrate the employment compliance dimension from the outset, ensuring that the channel is credible for the full range of reports it is designed to receive.