How does overtime work in Spain?

Normal working hours are the hours outlined in your employment agreement. If you have normal working hours, overtime usually means any time you work beyond these hours.

In Spain, here’s how overtime works:

• The Spanish labor law stipulates that employees are only expected to work 40 hours a week on average. However, in certain cases, overtime is allowed as long as it does not exceed an 80 hour/week limit over the course of a year.
• Employees are entitled to overtime compensation that is at least 50% more than their normal rate, or compensatory paid time off, earned at the same increased rate.
• Overtime compensation cannot be included in the annual salary of the employee because it is not part of their ordinary activity. Therefore, employees are compensated for overtime in addition to their normal salary.

How to record overtime

Both the Customer and the employee are required to keep track of overtime worked to ensure fair compensation. As a rule, part-time employees cannot work overtime hours. In exceptional cases, they may agree to perform horas complementarias.

The overtime tracker must contain, at a minimum, the start and end times of the employee's working day. The Customer must keep the monthly summaries of the working hours for a minimum period of four years.