Working Time Rules: Spain
Spain: standard working hours, overtime, rest, annual leave, and record-keeping rules - a practical overview, not legal advice.
Statutory working time
Under the Workers' Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores, Art. 34), ordinary working time may not exceed 40 hours per week on an annual average, with a maximum of 9 hours per working day.
Overtime
Overtime is capped at 80 hours a year, with exceptions, and is either paid at a rate no lower than the ordinary hour or compensated with equivalent paid rest. Absent any agreement the default is rest, taken within the four months after the hours were worked, and hours compensated that way do not count toward the annual cap.
Rest periods
At least 12 hours between the end of one working day and the start of the next. Weekly rest is a day and a half uninterrupted, which as a rule covers Saturday afternoon or Monday morning plus the whole of Sunday, and may be accumulated over periods of up to fourteen days. Workers under 18 get two uninterrupted days.
Record-keeping
Since 2019 the company must guarantee a daily working-time register that records the specific start and finish time of each worker’s day. Monthly summaries of those registers are kept for at least four years.
What to check before you rely on this
- The current statutory limits, reference periods, and any opt-outs.
- Sector or collective-agreement rules that may override the defaults.
- How overtime is authorised, recorded, and compensated.
- What working-time records you must keep and for how long.