TL;DR, Hiring in Spain
- Fully-loaded employer cost: ~30–32% on top of gross salary
- Social security cap: ~€61,214/year (€5,101.20/mo Base Máxima de Cotización, 2026)
- 14 pay periods, 12 monthly + 2 extra (June + December)
- Severance for unfair dismissal: 33 days/year of service, capped at 24 months
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Statutory employer costs in Spain
In Spain, employers contribute roughly 30–32% on top of gross salary: 23.6% common contingencies (pension, health, sickness), 5.5% unemployment insurance, 0.6% professional training, 0.2% FOGASA wage guarantee, plus 0.75% Mecanismo de Equidad Intergeneracional (MEI) introduced 2023. Contribution bases are capped at ~€5,101.20/month (€61,214/yr, Base Máxima de Cotización 2026); above the cap the ~5.5% solidarity surcharge (Ley 21/2021) applies instead.
| Contribution | Employer rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Common contingencies (pension, healthcare, sickness) | 23.6% | Capped at €4,909/mo Base Máxima de Cotización |
| Unemployment (desempleo) | 5.5% | For permanent contracts; 6.7% for temporary |
| FOGASA (wage guarantee fund) | 0.2% | Government-backed wage protection in insolvency |
| Professional training (formación) | 0.6% | Funds national vocational training |
| MEI (intergenerational equity mechanism) | 0.75% (rises to 1.2% by 2029) | Pension reform contribution introduced 2023 |
| Accident insurance (AT/EP) | 1.0–6.7% | Industry-dependent; office work ~1% |
Mandatory employee benefits
Beyond statutory contributions, Spain law requires the following benefits the employer must fund.
- 14 pay periods
- 12 monthly + 2 'pagas extraordinarias' in June and December. Can be prorated across 12 months if contract allows.
- Vacation
- Minimum 30 calendar days (≈22 working days) per year, statutory.
- Maternity leave
- 16 weeks fully paid by Social Security; same for paternity (equalized 2021).
- Public holidays
- 14 per year (9 national + regional + local); paid days off.
Termination, notice and severance
Probation
Permanent contracts: 6 months for qualified technicians, 2 months for other workers. Can't be longer than what the applicable convenio colectivo allows.
Notice period
Objective dismissal (redundancy): 15 days' written notice. Disciplinary dismissal: immediate.
Severance
Fair objective dismissal (redundancy): 20 days' salary per year of service, capped at 12 months. Unfair dismissal (despido improcedente): 33 days' salary per year for post-2012 contracts, capped at 24 months. Spanish labor courts side with employees ~75% of the time when challenged.
Common compliance pitfalls
- Convenios colectivos (sector-level collective bargaining agreements) set minimum salaries and benefits per industry, often higher than the statutory minimum wage (SMI €1,184/mo in 2024). Your EOR must apply the correct convenio.
- Temporary contract reform (2022) drastically limited fixed-term contracts. Most hires must be permanent (indefinido) from day 1, increasing severance exposure.
- Plan de igualdad (equality plan) is mandatory for companies with 50+ employees. The EOR is the legal employer but doesn't aggregate across clients, generally not a problem.
- Two pagas extraordinarias trip up foreign employers. They are instalments of the same annual salary, not extra pay: a €60K/year salary is €60K/14 = €4,286 per payment, not €5,000/mo on top. Confirm whether 'salary' in an offer is the annual figure divided by 12 or 14.
Frequently asked questions
For a €50,000 gross annual salary, fully-loaded employer cost is approximately €65,000–66,000: €50K gross + ~€15K employer social security (capped at Base Máxima for higher earners) + EOR platform fee.
Spanish payroll splits annual salary across 14 'pagas': 12 monthly + extra payments in June and December (pagas extraordinarias). The contract can prorate these into 12 equal monthly payments instead, but the annual total is the same (Estatuto de los Trabajadores art. 31). Because they are instalments and not additional pay, the calculator adds nothing on top of the annual base salary you enter.
It can be. Unfair dismissal (despido improcedente) triggers 33 days' salary per year of service, capped at 24 months, for a 5-year tenure at €60K, that's roughly €27K severance. Spanish labor courts rule for the employee in ~75% of contested cases.
Convenios colectivos are sector-level collective bargaining agreements that set minimum salaries, working hours, vacation, and benefits per industry (tech, hospitality, construction, etc.). Reputable EORs auto-apply the correct convenio based on the employee's CNAE activity code. Confirm this in your service agreement.
Yes, with no severance and no required cause, but the probation period must be in writing in the original contract and cannot exceed the maximum set by the applicable convenio (typically 2 months for general workers, 6 months for qualified technicians).
Sources
Statutory rates and rules verified against the following authorities. We update this page when rates change.