Severance for an unfair dismissal in Spain is thirty-three days’ salary per year of service, and the deadline to challenge it is twenty working days from the day after the effective date in your dismissal letter. This calculator does both sums with the rules of the Workers’ Statute and the official holiday calendar of Galicia and of the town where your employment court sits.
How severance is calculated
It starts from the daily salary, your gross annual salary including extra payments divided by three hundred and sixty-five. For unfair dismissal it multiplies by thirty-three days each year worked since 12 February 2012 and by forty-five each earlier year, counting part of a month as a full month. The total cannot exceed seven hundred and twenty days’ salary unless the pre-2012 period already does, and never forty-two months’ pay. For objective dismissal it is twenty days per year, up to twelve months’ pay.
How the deadline is calculated
The twenty days are working days, so Saturdays, Sundays, national and Galician public holidays and the local holidays of the court’s town do not count. In dismissal cases August and the days from 24 December to 6 January that are not public holidays do count, because the Labour Jurisdiction Act makes them working days for this procedure. The calculator includes the official holidays for 2026 and 2027 and the 2026 local holidays of the seven Galician towns with an employment court, and warns you if the period falls in a year whose local holidays are not yet published.
If you have just been dismissed
File the conciliation request as soon as possible, because that is what stops the clock, and do not sign the final settlement as agreed before checking it. More on dismissals and the conciliation request. Our employment cases are handled by Ana María Reza Cortiñas and Luis Jurado Cano, and you can call or WhatsApp us on +34 677 841 007.
Frequently asked questions
How much severance do I get for an unfair dismissal in Spain?
Thirty-three days' salary per year of service, up to twenty-four months' pay, under article 56.1 of the Workers' Statute. If your contract started before 12 February 2012, the time worked up to that date is paid at forty-five days per year, with the caps of the eleventh transitional provision. The calculator splits the periods for you.
Which salary should I enter?
Your gross annual salary including the pro rata of extra payments, as shown on your payslips before tax. Regular allowances, usual overtime and variable pay also count, and that is what is most often disputed in court, so keep last year's payslips at hand.
Why does the calculator ask which employment court?
Because the local holidays deducted from the period are those of the town where the court sits, not where you live or worked. In Galicia there are employment courts in A Coruña, Ferrol, Santiago, Lugo, Ourense, Pontevedra and Vigo, and each town has its own local holidays.
Why are there two dates for the conciliation request?
The first is the legal date, counting the local holidays of the court's town. The second, when it is earlier, is the date without counting any local holiday. We recommend filing before that second date, so the result does not depend on how the calendar is read.
Is the result what I will be paid?
It is a first estimate under the rules in force, not a settlement. It does not include back pay, the final settlement (unused holidays, pending pay) or void dismissals, where the employer must reinstate you. We make the final calculation with your payslips and your letter in front of us, in English if you prefer.