Working Hours: Regulations and Types in Spain
Working Day Regulations in Spain
Work activity evolves over a period called the working day. The number of hours is set according to several criteria:
- Economic: Minimum time for obtaining a salary to cover natural needs and provide funding for the company and benefit the employer.
- Social: Limits to protect the mental and physical health of the worker.
The length of time depends on factors such as:
- Economic (employment and wage levels)
- Technical (levels of automation in the company)
- Institutional (legislation, collective bargaining)
There has been a slow progression in limiting the working day. In all civilized countries, one of the first manifestations of state intervention in industrial relations is limiting working hours for humanitarian reasons. In Spain, the working day is recognized in the Workers’ Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores – ET), and its violation is a serious administrative offense.
Ordinary Working Day
The legal maximum reduction of working time was set by the ET at 40 hours per week of actual work, not merely presence, from arrival to leaving the job. It is prohibited to exceed 9 hours per day. A minimum break of at least 12 hours between the end of one workday and the beginning of another is observed as a rule. Compensation may be requested to reduce rest by altering it. The annual working hours are 1,792 hours per year.
With respect to the limit of 40 hours and 12 hours of rest periods, agreements may be made in collective or individual contracts. Collective bargaining supports unevenly distributed working days throughout the year.
Special Working Days
Article 34.7 of the ET authorizes the Governor to determine increases and reductions in time for sectors and jobs that require them due to their peculiarities. As a rule, a minimum rest period of at least 10 consecutive hours is set.
Extensions of Working Days
Employees of Urban Properties with full dedication: Their work time lies between the opening and closing times, as set by local ordinances. They have the right to one or more breaks, as set by collective agreement or agreement between the employee and employer. Actual work time cannot exceed the maximum duration of the normal working hours.
Guards and Non-Rail Guards: Their day can be extended to 12 hours, 4 of which can be devoted to rest within the hours of service, whenever they do not have constant monitoring of a limited area and have a place to rest.
Work in the Field: Its distribution and computation are assigned to collective agreements and, failing that, to custom. It can be extended by 20 hours per week, counted as overtime.
Transport and Work at Sea: The working day for drivers is generally limited to 9 hours daily. They cannot drive for more than 4 and a half hours without a pause.
Start-up, Archiving, and Closure by Others: Can be expanded by the time strictly necessary, in the form agreed upon by the parties.
In Special Conditions of Isolation and Remoteness: Rest periods between working days can be computed for up to 8 weeks but may not be less than 10 hours from one day to the next.
Fractional-Time Jobs: The minimum rest between working days is 9 hours plus compensatory rest.
Limitations of Working Day
Jobs exposed to environmental risks are reduced by collective agreements or decisions of the labor administration.
- Work in the field: Reduction of 6 hours and 20 minutes (38 hours per week) or 6 hours daily and 36 hours weekly in some cases.
- Work in mines: 35 hours worked per week.
- Construction and public works, with similar circumstances to miners, will have the time limitations provided for them.
- Work in cold rooms and freezers: The ET provides other cases of reduced working days.
The working day can be shortened with a pay cut to reconcile family and work, corresponding to part-time work.
Excluded Working Days
Special work relations of Article 2 of the ET are governed by specific regulations. This includes pilots, captains, shipping and other charges, boatswains, and medical staff in these inspection jobs.