Reporting to the Labour Inspectorate and company employment obligations

The Labour and Social Security Inspectorate (ITSS) is the public body that monitors compliance with employment, Seguridad Social (the Spanish social security system), risk prevention and immigration regulations. When it detects an infringement, it can issue a requirement to the company, draw up a report and propose a financial penalty in accordance with the LISOS (Ley sobre Infracciones y Sanciones en el Orden Social, Law on Infringements and Penalties in the Social Order).

Any breach can be reported: unpaid wages or payslips, unpaid or uncompensated overtime, lack of time tracking, false autónomos (freelancers registered as self-employed who actually work as employees), workers without a contract or not registered with the Seguridad Social, risk prevention breaches and discrimination.

Important: the report serves to investigate and, where appropriate, penalise the company, but it does not recover the money owed to you on its own. The claim for amounts (wages, severance pay) is resolved in the Juzgado de lo Social (Social Court), with a prior papeleta de conciliación (conciliation ballot). Managora can prepare both routes at the same time.

Anyone who has knowledge of the facts can report: the worker themselves, a colleague, a union representative or a third party. You do not need to be the person directly affected.

There are 2 routes. The formal report requires you to identify yourself (DNI (ID card), passport, NIE (foreigner identification number), electronic certificate or Cl@ve (the Spanish electronic identification system)) and sign the document, but your identity is confidential: the ITSS does not reveal it to the inspected company (art. 20 of Ley 23/2015). The second route is the Buzón de lucha contra el fraude laboral (Mailbox for the fight against employment fraud), which is completely anonymous, where no personal data is collected.

The ITSS may not process manifestly unfounded reports, those that coincide with matters already resolved and those that pursue only a particular economic interest that must be settled in court. That is why it is advisable to provide specific data: company, address, facts, dates and, if possible, evidence.

Yes. Since Real Decreto-ley 8/2019 (in force on 12 May 2019), article 34.9 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Workers' Statute) obliges every company to keep a daily record of the working hours of each worker, with the specific start and end times, regardless of flexible working hours.

The record must be kept for 4 years and be available to workers, their legal representatives and the Labour Inspectorate. The obligation covers all employees, whether full-time or part-time.

Failing to keep the record, or doing so incorrectly, is a serious infringement (art. 7.5 of the LISOS), punishable in terms of employment relations between €751 and €7,500. It also helps to prove unpaid overtime, one of the most frequent reasons for reporting.

Voluntary resignation or quitting is in article 49.1.d) of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Workers' Statute). The worker who decides to leave must communicate it with the notice period indicated in their collective agreement or local custom; the law does not set a general supplementary period. In practice, the most widespread custom is a 15 days notice period, but it is advisable to follow what the applicable agreement provides.

It is advisable to communicate it in writing (resignation letter with the effective date), to leave a record. If the worker does not respect the notice period, the company can deduct the unfulfilled notice days from the final settlement, provided that this obligation was established.

After the resignation, the company must process the deregistration with the Seguridad Social (Sistema RED) and deliver the final settlement and the company certificate. Managora prepares the voluntary resignation letter and verifies the calculation of the final settlement so that the termination is well documented.

The ERTE (Temporary Employment Regulation File) suspends contracts or reduces working hours temporarily, maintaining the employment relationship (art. 47 of the Estatuto (Statute)). The ERE (collective dismissal) extinguishes the contracts (art. 51 of the Estatuto (Statute)). Following the employment reform (Real Decreto-ley 32/2021), the ERTE is mainly governed by art. 47 of the Estatuto (Statute) (and by art. 47 bis for the Mecanismo RED (RED Mechanism)), while Real Decreto 1483/2012 mainly regulates the ERE and applies supplementarily to the ERTE.

Both procedures require opening a consultation period with the legal representation of the workers and communicating the measure to the competent employment authority. The maximum duration of the consultation period is different: in the ERTE it is 15 days (7 days in companies with fewer than 50 workers) and in the ERE or collective dismissal it is 30 calendar days (15 days in companies with fewer than 50 workers). The employment authority forwards the communication to the SEPE (to manage the unemployment of those affected) and to the Labour Inspectorate.

In ERTEs due to force majeure and in the Mecanismo RED (RED Mechanism) (art. 47 bis, introduced by the 2021 employment reform) there are processing specialities. Managora prepares the communication to the employment authority and coordinates the transfer to the SEPE.

The LISOS classifies infringements into minor, serious and very serious, and each degree has a fine bracket. In terms of employment relations, serious ones range from €751 to €7,500 and very serious ones can reach €225,018. In risk prevention the amounts are much higher.

The lack of registration with the Seguridad Social (the typical case of the false autónomo or the worker without a contract) is a serious infringement that is penalised for each affected worker, between €3,750 and €12,000, in addition to the obligation to pay the unpaid contributions of recent years with a surcharge.

The limitation periods depend on the subject matter. Infringements in employment relations and employment prescribe after 3 years, without distinction of degree. Those of the Seguridad Social (such as the lack of registration of the false autónomo) prescribe after 4 years. Only in occupational risk prevention is a distinction made by severity: 1 year for minor, 3 years for serious and 5 years for very serious. The exact amounts and their graduation are set by the ITSS in each report. You can check the amount and scope of our service in the procedure file.