Unpaid wages in Spain: how to claim what you are owed

If your employer owes salary, overtime, night-work pay, extra payments, commissions or another employment amount, a structured claim starts by identifying exactly what is due and when. A payment shortfall can arise because nothing was paid, because the wrong rate was used or because a salary component was omitted.

Identify every amount and period

Compare the contract, payslips and bank receipts with the applicable collective agreement, salary tables and individual agreements. Check professional classification and actual duties. List basic pay, supplements, overtime, night work, extra payments, commission, bonus and final-settlement items separately where relevant.

Do not assume that a salary-table figure is the entire entitlement. Equally, not every allowance is payable in every situation: its conditions, accrual, proportionality and any lawful offsetting or absorption rules must be checked. Distinguish gross sums from net transfers and avoid counting prorated extra payments twice.

What evidence is needed?

Keep contracts, payslips, bank records, schedules, time records, commission or bonus rules and communications acknowledging the debt. A claim for overtime or night work needs evidence of the work or conditions generating that entitlement; payment is then a distinct issue. An employer’s payslip does not by itself prove that the money reached your account.

Messages, emails, witnesses and lawfully obtained recordings may be relevant. Preserve originals and context. Do not obtain evidence by accessing accounts or documents you are not entitled to access, and do not sign a receipt confirming payment that has not occurred.

The ordinary one-year limitation period

Ordinary employment money claims generally prescribe one year after each amount could first be demanded. Each monthly underpayment may therefore have its own starting date. A sufficiently clear and provable judicial or extrajudicial demand can interrupt prescription and restart it; its content, recipient and delivery must be established. Keep evidence, such as a certified-content burofax with proof of receipt.

This is different from the strict twenty-working-day deadline for challenging dismissal. If the dispute concerns dismissal compensation or a settlement, the correct claim and time limit depend on what is disputed. Do not rely on an informal promise of future payment.

Conciliation, court and enforcement

An ordinary wage claim generally begins with a pre-court conciliation request to the competent service, normally SMAC in Madrid. Prepare an itemised schedule explaining the legal basis, period and amount of each item. If no agreement is reached, an employment-court claim may follow. A labour payment-order procedure may be available for qualifying debts, but its statutory conditions must be checked.

If an enforceable agreement or judgment is not honoured, enforcement may be required. Winning the claim and actually recovering the money are separate stages. Where there is insolvency, FOGASA can cover qualifying salary and certain compensation debts within statutory requirements and limits; it does not guarantee full payment of every sum.

Interest: salary and compensation are different

Article 29.3 provides salary-arrears interest at ten per cent annually, proportionate to the delay, for qualifying salary debt. This is not an automatic ten-per-cent addition to every employment claim. Compensation debts require examination of the applicable legal and procedural interest rules instead.

Repeated non-payment and ending employment

Serious non-payment or persistent late payment may justify seeking judicial termination under Article 50 with the corresponding compensation. The provision includes specified thresholds and preserves judicial assessment of other serious situations. This is not the same as handing in a resignation or simply stopping work. Obtain advice on the appropriate claim and any protective measures before acting.

Preparing your appointment

Bring the contract, agreement, payslips, bank records, working-time evidence and a month-by-month calculation. Our Spanish wage-claim service (in Spanish) and SMAC wage-claim guide (in Spanish) explain related steps.

Legal sources

Workers’ Statute, Articles 29, 33, 50 and 59 (Spanish legislation) and Employment Jurisdiction Act, conciliation and money-claim procedures (Spanish legislation).

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.