The deadline to challenge your dismissal started running the day after the effective date in your letter, even if you are still waiting for your final settlement, negotiating an exit with the employer or have not yet applied for unemployment benefit. It is twenty working days, which exclude Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays but include August and the Christmas days that are not public holidays. It is a limitation period that cannot be extended, and once it expires the dismissal stands exactly as the employer decided it, however badly the letter was drafted. Talking to HR or waiting for an offer does not stop it, whereas filing a conciliation claim or applying for a legal aid lawyer does.
At Perseus & RC Abogados dismissal cases are handled by Ana María Reza Cortiñas, member no. 6064 of the A Coruña Bar Association and managing partner of the firm’s civil practice, and Luis Jurado Cano, member no. 6317. When someone comes in with a letter, the first thing we do is fix the effective date and count the days left, and then we work out what you are owed, in English if you prefer. The rest of our employment work is on the employment law page.
What you are owed, depending on the outcome
| Outcome | Your contract | What you receive |
|---|---|---|
| Fair disciplinary dismissal | Ends | No severance, only the final settlement |
| Fair objective dismissal | Ends | 20 days’ salary per year, up to 12 months’ pay |
| Unfair, employer pays | Ends | 33 days’ salary per year, up to 24 months’ pay |
| Unfair, employer reinstates | You return | Wages from the dismissal to notification of the judgment |
| Void | Mandatory reinstatement | All wages lost in the meantime |
The employer chooses between reinstatement and severance within five days of notification of the judgment, and if it says nothing it is deemed to have chosen reinstatement. If you are a workers’ representative or union delegate, the choice is yours. Severance is calculated on your daily salary, including the proportional share of bonus payments, with periods under a year prorated by month. If you joined before 12 February 2012, the time worked up to that date is paid at forty-five days per year and the rest at thirty-three, with a cap of 720 days’ salary unless the earlier period alone exceeds it, and never more than 42 months’ pay.
The calculator below uses your gross annual salary, your start date and the date of dismissal to give a first estimate of unfair or objective dismissal severance and the last day to file your challenge. For that date it takes into account public holidays in Galicia and the local holidays of the employment court you choose among the seven Galician towns that have one, because it is the court’s town, not where you live, whose holidays count. Treat it as a guide before you talk to the employer or go to conciliation, because the salary that counts can include allowances, variable pay or bonuses that the payslip does not show clearly, and we make the final calculation with your payslips in front of us.
What the employer has to prove
At a disciplinary dismissal hearing the employer speaks first and must prove the facts it wrote in the letter, and it cannot add new ones on the day. The law requires the dismissal to be notified in writing, stating the facts and the effective date, so a letter that mentions “poor performance” or “loss of trust” without dates or specific facts falls short. A verbal “don’t come back tomorrow” is unfair for lack of form, although you will need to show when it happened.
In an objective dismissal, for economic, technical, organisational or production reasons, the employer must give you a letter stating the cause, make twenty days’ pay per year available at the same moment and give you fifteen days’ notice or pay for them. If it does not make the severance available, and it is not an employer that explains in the letter that its financial position prevents it from paying at that moment, the dismissal is unfair even if the cause is real.
When a dismissal is void
A void dismissal means reinstatement with all lost wages. It covers discriminatory dismissals and those that breach fundamental rights, including retaliation for a complaint you made against the employer. Unless the employer proves an unrelated, genuine reason, it also covers pregnant workers, people on birth or adoption leave, those who have asked for reduced or adapted hours to care for children or relatives, those returning from that leave within twelve months of the birth or adoption, and victims of gender or sexual violence exercising their protective rights. Since Law 15/2022, illness is also a ground of discrimination, so a dismissal whose real reason is sick leave can be declared void. If harassment came first, see workplace harassment.
What to do while the twenty days run
With an objective dismissal and fifteen days’ notice, the twenty days start the day after the contract ends, not on the day of the letter, although you may act earlier. Filing the conciliation claim stops the count, which resumes the day after the hearing or fifteen working days after filing if no hearing has taken place. Days already used are not recovered.
Sign the letter only as received, with the date you got it, and write no conforme (not agreed) next to your signature on any final settlement. What should be in that settlement is covered in unpaid wages. A dismissal puts you in the legal situation of unemployment, so you can apply for benefit without waiting for the trial, provided you have paid in enough contributions and hold a valid work authorisation. If your employer let you go because your permit expired, read losing your work permit.
Where we are
Rúa Torreiro 13, 3.º C, 15001 A Coruña, Spain. Phone +34 677 841 007. If your letter is from this week, send it to us before you come in and we will tell you how many days you have left. If you live elsewhere, we can meet by video call, in English.
Related reading
- Dismissed in Spain, what you can claim and the 20-day deadline you can’t miss
- Unfair, null or fair dismissal in Spain, what each means and what you can claim
- Losing your Spanish work permit, the employer cannot dismiss you without compensation
Frequently asked questions
I was told verbally not to come back, with no letter. What should I do?
That is a dismissal, and the twenty working days run from that day. Without a letter the dismissal is unfair for lack of form, but you have to prove that it happened and when, with messages from your manager, witnesses or the leaving date shown in your Social Security employment record. Ask the employer in writing to clarify your situation, because if it later claims you walked out, that request and its answer or silence will matter at trial.
Does August count towards the dismissal deadline?
Yes. In dismissal cases August is a working month for the courts, as are the days from 24 December to 6 January, so the deadline keeps running during the holidays. Only Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are left out.
I was paid twenty days per year for an objective dismissal. Can I still challenge it?
Yes. Accepting the severance the employer offers does not mean you agree with the dismissal and does not stop you from going to court. If the dismissal is ruled unfair and the employer chooses to pay, what you already received is deducted. If it chooses to take you back, you will have to return it.
I am pregnant, or on reduced hours to care for my children, and I have been dismissed. What happens?
The dismissal is void unless the employer proves it had nothing to do with the pregnancy or with that right, and in an objective dismissal it must also prove that the cause requires dismissing you specifically. If it is ruled void, you return to your job and receive your wages for the whole period. The deadline is still twenty working days.
My temporary contract ended and was not renewed. Is that a dismissal?
It can be. If the contract did not state precisely why it was temporary, if contracts were chained beyond the legal limits, or if it covered a permanent need of the business, you were in fact a permanent employee and the end of the contract is treated as a dismissal. The same twenty working days apply from the end date, so bring every contract you signed with that employer.