Unpaid wages in Spain can be claimed for one year from the day each payment was due, and every month runs separately. That is the rule in article 59 of the Workers’ Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores), so someone who has been paid half their salary for fourteen months without claiming has already lost what was owed for the first two. The same year applies to extra payments and overtime, and for the final settlement (finiquito) and holiday owed when the contract ends it runs from the day you left. A conciliation request interrupts that period from the day it is filed and the year starts again after the conciliation hearing, which is why it is the first document we lodge when someone arrives with months of arrears.
At Perseus & RC Abogados these claims are handled by Ana María Reza Cortiñas and Luis Jurado Cano, registered with the A Coruña Bar Association under numbers 6064 and 6317, with Ana as managing partner of the civil department. We also act for foreign residents working in Galicia. Under Spanish immigration law, working without a residence and work permit does not cancel your rights as an employee, so wages owed for work actually done can be claimed even if your papers were not in order, although unemployment benefit requires a permit. A related situation, losing your permit while employed, is covered in losing your Spanish work permit, and the detail of each item on a payslip in unpaid wages or final settlement in Spain. Our wider work is on the employment law page.
Conciliation, the fast-track claim or a full lawsuit
The usual route starts with a conciliation request filed with the SMAC, the mediation, arbitration and conciliation section of the Galician regional government’s employment department in A Coruña. If the employer acknowledges the debt there and signs, the record can be enforced directly in court without another trial. If there is no agreement, or the employer does not turn up, the claim goes to the social court. If you have also been dismissed, challenging the dismissal has a much shorter limit of twenty working days, explained on our dismissals page.
When the debt is clear from your payslips and does not exceed 15,000 euros, there is a shortcut, the monitorio laboral, which needs no conciliation. The court orders the employer to pay within ten days or object in writing, and if it does neither, enforcement follows. The debt carries the statutory late-payment interest of 10% of the amount owed, calculated per year from the date each amount was due.
When unpaid wages let you leave with compensation
Since April 2025 the Workers’ Statute sets out how much non-payment allows you to ask the court to end the contract with the same compensation as an unfair dismissal. Pay counts as late when it arrives more than fifteen days after the agreed date, and the ground exists if, within one year, three full monthly salaries are owed, even if not consecutive, or pay is late in six months, also not necessarily consecutive. The court ends the contract, not you. Until judgment the contract remains in force and, save in exceptional situations, you should keep working, because walking out earlier turns a departure with compensation and unemployment benefit into a voluntary resignation with neither.
When the employer cannot pay
With the judgment or the signed record we ask the court to seize the company’s accounts and assets. If not enough is found, the court declares it insolvent, and that declaration, or an insolvency order from the commercial court, opens the door to the Wage Guarantee Fund (FOGASA). The Fund pays outstanding wages for up to 120 days, calculated on twice the daily minimum wage including extra payments, and severance up to one year’s pay with the same salary cap. You must apply within one year of the document recognising the debt. Be careful before agreeing to deferred severance at the SMAC conciliation, because the Fund only covers severance recognised by a court or an administrative decision, not severance agreed solely in that record. If you work for a subcontractor, the main company that contracted work within its own line of business is jointly liable for your wages during the year after the contract ends.
Where we are
Rúa Torreiro 13, 3.º C, 15001 A Coruña, Spain. Phone +34 677 841 007. If you work shifts or live elsewhere, we can talk by video call, in English. Have your payslips and bank statements for the unpaid months to hand, because they tell us which months are still within the limit.
Related reading
- Unpaid wages or final settlement in Spain, how to claim what your employer owes you
- Losing your Spanish work permit, the employer cannot dismiss you without compensation
- Dismissed in Spain, what you can claim and the 20-day deadline
- Collecting a debt in Spain from a debtor who claims to have nothing
Frequently asked questions
My wages are more than a year overdue. Have I lost them?
Months that fell due more than a year ago are time-barred if nothing interrupted the period in the meantime, such as a conciliation request, and the employer can refuse to pay them on that ground. Each month runs separately, so the more recent ones are still claimable even if the older ones have lapsed. With your payslips and bank statements we can tell you exactly which months are still in time.
I worked without a work permit. Can I still claim my unpaid wages?
Yes. Spanish immigration law says that the lack of a residence and work permit does not invalidate the employment contract as regards the worker's rights, so wages owed for work actually done can be claimed. What you cannot obtain without a permit is unemployment benefit.
What is the fast-track wage claim?
It is a procedure called monitorio laboral, for clear amounts that are already due and do not exceed 15,000 euros, and it needs no prior conciliation. The court orders the employer to pay within ten days or explain in writing why it does not owe the money, and if it does neither, enforcement follows. It cannot be used against a company in insolvency proceedings.
The company has closed and nobody answers. Who pays me?
First you need a judgment or a signed conciliation record recognising the debt, and an attempt to enforce it. Once the court declares the company insolvent, or if it is in insolvency proceedings, the Wage Guarantee Fund (FOGASA) pays wages and severance within its limits. You must apply to the Fund within one year of the record, judgment or decision that recognised the debt.
Do I need to speak Spanish for the conciliation or the court?
No. At the conciliation we can attend on your behalf and explain the outcome to you in English, and at court the judge can appoint an interpreter for your statement. Documents in another language must be filed with a Spanish translation, which can be a private one.