Collective agreements in Spain: which one applies to you?
Employment law in Spain: English guides
A Spanish collective agreement (convenio colectivo) can determine pay, professional classification, annual working time, leave, disciplinary rules and other conditions. Identifying the correct agreement is often essential to understanding an employment contract, a salary claim or a dismissal.
What is a convenio colectivo?
It is an agreement negotiated by employer and employee representatives. Statutory collective agreements have binding effect within their scope under the Workers’ Statute; they are not simply optional company guidance. They must respect mandatory legal rules, and their relationship with individual terms and other agreements requires care.
Do not assume that the agreement named in a contract is necessarily correct, that union membership is required for coverage, or that an English job title determines the sector.
How to identify the applicable agreement
- Check the actual business activity. Examine what the employer does and the relevant functional scope, rather than relying solely on a company name or classification code.
- Check territory. Agreements may be national, regional, provincial or have another defined scope. The workplace and applicable territorial provisions matter.
- Check the covered employees and exclusions. The agreement may define professional or personal limits.
- Check whether there is a company agreement. Concurrency and priority rules apply by subject; it is unsafe to assume that a company agreement always prevails.
- Check dates, amendments and continuity. Read the validity, extension and replacement provisions along with later published updates.
Contracting and subcontracting can raise additional rules about the relevant sector and activity. The employer’s classification and the employee’s actual functions need to be assessed together; selecting whichever agreement has the highest salary table is not the legal method.
An older date does not necessarily mean an expired agreement
An agreement labelled 2023 may still govern employment. Article 86 regulates agreed duration, extensions and continuing effect. Unless otherwise agreed, an agreement is extended annually if it has not been formally denounced for renegotiation. After denunciation, the negotiated provisions and statutory rules on continuing validity (ultraactividad) must be examined. Denunciation does not itself mean that all employment conditions disappear.
Different subjects can have different periods of validity. A salary revision or new table may be published separately from the main text. Check the official publication, subsequent amendments, effective dates and any arrears provision before deciding which amount applies.
Salary tables are only part of the calculation
Professional group and actual duties matter. So do working-time proportion, salary supplements, seniority where applicable, extra payments, night work, shifts, commissions, bonus arrangements and conditions of accrual. Some items compensate expenses rather than work. Offsetting and absorption, protected individual conditions and transitional provisions may also affect the result.
For that reason, a single table entry should not be presented as every worker’s total salary. Keep the main agreement and all relevant updates together. If a shortfall emerges, our unpaid-wages guide explains the evidence and limitation issues.
Browse our Madrid collective-agreement resources
Our Madrid collective-agreement catalogue (in Spanish) brings together sector resources and access to their documents. Useful starting points include:
- Offices and professional firms (in Spanish).
- Hospitality (in Spanish).
- General retail trade (in Spanish).
These are starting points, not a finding that a particular agreement applies to your employer. Consult the scope and official documents. This guide does not replace or reproduce the complete pay tables and supplements.
What to bring to an agreement review
Bring the employment contract, payslips, employer details, workplace, a description of actual duties and activity, working-time records and any agreement or salary-table references supplied by the company. The same review can inform a contract check, disciplinary safeguards and the salary basis for compensation.
Legal sources
Workers’ Statute, Articles 82–86 and 90 (Spanish legislation). See also our Spanish definition of convenio colectivo (in Spanish).
Discuss your case with Manrique de Torres Abogados
We can review your documents and explain the available options. Contact us or Book a video consultation. You can also call +34 685 807 112 or email info@manriquedetorres.com.
Madrid office: Santa Engracia 151, 1st floor, doors 2 and 3, 28003 Madrid. Appointments by arrangement. Explore our employment-law services.
