According to Spanish labor laws, all persons working in Spain must, without exceptions of any kind, be employed or be self-employed professionals. The hiring conditions vary depending on whether the person to be hired is an EU citizen or a non-EU citizen. The hiring of workers included in the first category follows the same procedures as any other Spaniard by virtue of the free circulation of goods, people, services and capital guaranteed by the European Union. The only requirement is an identification number for foreigners (the NIE, issued by the Civil Government) to be able to sign a standard contract. In the case of self-employed professionals, the use of intra-community invoices is recommended.
The Spanish companies that are interested in hiring non-EU personnel must present the necessary documentation at the Subdelegation of the Government. Through the consulate of the country of origin of the worker they will receive a response within ninety days. It is important to bear in mind that during the time that the work permit is being processed, the worker cannot carry out any work activity. On some occasions, it is the workers themselves who decide to carry out the procedures to obtain the work permit. In the same way as in the previous case, they should contact the corresponding Government Subdelegation.
Social Security
Social Security is the system through which Spain guarantees the people included in its scope of application, as well as their dependent family members, adequate protection in the situations contemplated in the law. Its main regulation is contained in the General Social Security Law, rewritten text approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/1994, of 20 June 1994.
The protective action of Social Security comprises a set of benefits and measures aimed at preventing, repairing or overcoming the states of need derived from certain circumstances, such as alteration or loss of health, temporary or permanent disability, retirement, family burdens and total or partial loss of employment. In order to determine which people are included in the Social Security system, a distinction must be made between contributory and non-contributory benefits. Contributory benefits are those that require prior contribution to Social Security. Non-contributory benefits, on the other hand, do not require a contribution and are financed by the State budget.
For the purposes of contributory benefits, all Spaniards and foreigners residing or legally present in Spain, regardless of their sex, marital status and profession, who reside and normally carry out their activity in Spain and who are included in any of the following sections, are included in the Social Security system:
- Workers on a self-employed basis or similar to them
- Self-employed or self-employed workers older than ten years of age
- Working members of associated work cooperative
- Students
- Civil servants and military
For the purposes of non-contributory benefits, all Spanish nationals residing in Spain, as well as Spanish-Americans, Portuguese, Brazilians, Andorrans and Filipinos residing in Spain will be included in the Social Security system. The situation of the rest of nationals depends on the provisions of treaties, agreements or ratified instruments. Spain has signed bilateral treaties on Social Security with the following countries: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.
In the general regime will be included the people older than six years old and foreigners that reside or are currently in Spain, whatever their sex, marital status and profession, as long as they are employed as sole proprietors, in the different branches of the economic activity, including those who are at home and included the eventual seasonal or fixed ones, even of discontinuous work, whatever the professional category is and the form and content of the remuneration that they receive.
The special nature of some professional activities determined that, together with the General System, there are a series of special systems: agricultural, sea workers, home workers, coal miners and self-employed workers. The latter includes all self-employed workers who are Spanish residents in Spain or foreigners residing or staying legally in Spain, over 10 years of age, who carry out their activity in national territory. For this purpose, a self-employed worker is understood as one who habitually, personally and directly carries out an economic activity for profit, without being subject to an employment contract and even if he/she employs the paid service of other people.
The management of the Spanish Social Security System is attributed, among others, to three public entities with their own legal personality, attached to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs through the Secretary of State for Social Security: the National Institute of Social Security (INSS), the General Treasury of Social Security (TGSS) and the Marine Social Institute (ISM). The management is carried out by a series of managing entities, common services, autonomous entities and collaborating entities as well as by the competent services of the autonomous communities that have transferred their competences (in the case of Galicia, the SERGAS, Servizo Galego de Saúde). The Mutual Insurance Companies of Work Accidents and Occupational Diseases and the companies will collaborate voluntarily or compulsorily in the management of the social security.
Salary and salary supplements
From a legal point of view, the salary is considered to be the totality of the economic payments in kind or costs of the workers corresponding to the professional rendering of their labor services. The basic salary is the worker's remuneration per unit of time or work without taking into account any circumstance. The rest of the worker's economic benefits are the salary complements or incentives, which can be of five types:
- Personal: These depend on the personal conditions of each employee that were not taken into account at the time of stipulating the base salary, for example, the knowledge of a language or the possession of an academic degree. For example, the knowledge of a language or the possession of an academic degree.
- Workplace: These depend on the type of risks associated with the activity performed by the employee, such as toxicity, dangerousness or night work, among others.
- For quality or quantity of work: Derived from a qualitative or quantitative improvement of the work (overtime, activity incentives, etc.).
- Periodic payments of more than one month: These are payments with a periodicity of more than thirty days, such as extraordinary payments or participation in the company's profits, among others.
- In kind: Remuneration that the employee receives in the form of non-monetary goods (food, lodging, etc.).
In addition to these salary supplements, the employee may receive economic compensation for expenses arising in the development of his or her work activity, such as, for example, expenses in advance for the execution of the work, means of transportation, etc.
Contracts
The basic regulation after the Constitution is the Workers' Statute (ET), which was approved on March 10, 1980, and regulates individual employment contracts, collective bargaining and the representation of workers in the company. In 1994, the Spanish government undertook a profound reform of the labor regulations that brought with it greater labor flexibility, favoring labor mobility and incorporating new contracting modalities. There are also numerous laws and decrees that regulate special employment contracts: internships, apprenticeships, senior management contracts, etc.
Contracts, whether fixed-term or indefinite-term, are of different types. In Galicia, the following temporary employment contracts are allowed:
- Contracts for the performance of a specific work or service: their duration will be that necessary for the conclusion of the work or service for which they were entered into.
- Eventual contracts due to production circumstances: they are produced by eventual market circumstances, such as the accumulation of tasks or excess of orders. They last for a maximum of six months within a twelve-month period.
- Interim contracts: they are used to replace the employees of a company (with the right to reserve their job) during a determined period of time, or to temporarily cover a job position during a selection or promotion process for its definitive coverage.
- Contracts for the launching of a new activity: its duration ranges from a minimum of six months to a maximum of three years.
- Contracts for the promotion of employment: the origin of this type of contract dates back to 1984, the year in which they were created in order to generate a greater volume of employment. Currently, the employment promotion scheme is established annually, determining what type of workers can be hired under it.
Another type of contract are part-time contracts, understood as all those contracts in which the worker renders services for a number of hours per day, week, month or year, lower than the one considered as usual in the activity in question in these periods of time. In these cases the salaries and social security contributions are proportional to the effective working time. Part-time employment contracts may be of indefinite or temporary duration in those cases in which this type of contract is legally permitted.
Law 10/1994, of May 19, 1994, on Urgent Measures to Promote Employment, establishes a new regime for training contracts, which aim to combine actual work and training. With the new regulation of these contracts, the old internship contract is reformed and the training contract is abolished and replaced by the apprenticeship contract.
Internship contracts allow companies to employ young people who have just graduated and are interested in acquiring practical experience in their area of expertise within the company. The duration cannot be less than six months or more than two years.
Under the modality of apprenticeship contracts, young people between sixteen and twenty-five years old and handicapped people who do not have the required qualification to formalize an internship contract can be employed in order to provide them with theoretical and practical training while they render their services and are paid for this. The duration of these contracts cannot be less than six months nor exceed three years, unless different durations are established by sectoral collective bargaining agreements.
Hiring of minors
Spanish labor law deals in a special way with the hiring of minors for public shows. In order to hire a minor it is necessary to send an authorization from the procurers or legal guardians to an inspector, who will be in charge of evaluating the working conditions according to the role that the minor will play, his remuneration, his state of health, and other important factors such as hygiene, safety, atmosphere, rest time, lack of school attendance, parental supervision during the performance period, etcetera. The application must be submitted at least one week in advance. The following chart details the allowed working hours depending on the age of the child.
Child's age |
Hours Allowed |
|---|---|
| Less than six months | Two hours on set. Include twenty minutes on camera*. |
| From six months to two years | Four hours on set. Includes two hours on camera. |
| From two to six years | Six hours on set. Includes three hours on camera. |
| From six to nine years | Eight hours on set. Includes four hours on camera. |
| From nine to sixteen years old | Nine hours on set. Includes five hours on camera. Days without school: seven hours on camera. |
| Ten to ten years old | Ten hours on set. Includes six hours on camera. Days without school: eight hours on camera. |
* A baby cannot be exposed to a light of more than 100 footcandles for more than thirty seconds at a time.
Other aspects to be consideredv
Galicia also offers a wide range of incentives for job creation, both from the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) and from the central government. Such incentives may consist of subsidies for indefinite-term contracts or, in some cases, for temporary contracts.
The basic regulation of these incentives is found in Decree 52/1994 of March 4, 1994, which is complemented in turn by various orders. In addition, there is a wide range of subsidies and aid for the hiring of handicapped persons, as well as for the creation of cooperatives and labor corporations and the establishment of self-employed workers.
Regarding unemployment benefits and pensions, any person who contributed to the general Social Security system is entitled to receive unemployment benefits and a retirement pension. The duration of the unemployment benefit is calculated according to the periods of employment contributed. In the case of the pension, a worker is entitled to receive it after having worked for a minimum period of fifteen years.
In the case of the round tables, the producing companies with workers must comply with mandatory safety and hygiene standards. The workers' mutual insurance companies are responsible for supervising compliance with these regulations. Law 31/1995, of November 8, 1995, on Occupational Risk Prevention, is the legal regulation that determines the basic body of guarantees and responsibilities required to establish an adequate level of protection of workers' health against the risks derived from working conditions, within the framework of a coherent, coordinated and effective policy.