Employer not paying your wages in Spain: what to do and FOGASA

Day 5 goes by, then day 10, and your payslip does not arrive. At first it is an excuse (“a problem with the bank”), then it is a calendar and in the end it is a question: what can I do without losing both my job and my pay? The law gives you several tools and a public guarantee fund, but each one needs steps and deadlines. Here is the order in which to use them.

What the law says: payment on time and with a payslip

Article 29 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Workers Statute) obliges the employer to pay your wages at the agreed time and place, in the time and manner agreed or according to local custom, and to give you a recibo de salarios (payslip). If it does not, there are consequences:

• Late-payment interest of 10% a year on what is owed (article 29.3). You do not receive it by yourself: it is claimed together with the wages.
• The possibility of asking to terminate the contract for serious breach (article 50.1.b), with unfair-dismissal severance.
• Court claim for the amounts, with a one-year deadline.
• FOGASA (Fondo de Garantía Salarial, the Wage Guarantee Fund) steps in if the employer is insolvent.

An isolated delay of a few days is not the same as non-payment for several months. Judges weigh the seriousness and the repetition.

Step 1: claim in writing

Before going to court, put the debt on record. An email or a burofax to the employer, copied to your manager and to the workers’ representatives if there are any, saying:

• the months or items you are owed (wages, extra payments, agreed overtime, holiday),
• the approximate figure,
• a reasonable period to pay, for example five working days.

Doing it in writing serves as proof that you claimed and may be the push a company with a temporary cash problem needs. A written claim may help interrupt the limitation period, but do not count on it: what certainly suspends it is the conciliation request, so do not stop at the email.

Step 2: the conciliation request

To claim amounts, you must first attempt conciliation. The request is filed with the conciliation service of your autonomous community, which summons the employer. If there is an agreement, you collect what was agreed; if there is no settlement or the employer does not appear, you are given the certificate. Filing it suspends the limitation period of one year. The steps are in how to file the conciliation request.

Step 3: claim and judgment

With the certificate, you file the claim for amounts in the Social Court (Juzgado de lo Social). You do not need a lawyer, although it helps. At trial, the employer will have to prove it paid. If it loses, the judgment sets the amounts plus 10% interest. For small sums it can be a quick procedure.

If the employer does not pay even after the judgment, you ask for enforcement (ejecución): the court can seize accounts, assets or rights to payment. And if there is nothing to seize, the court declares insolvency, and the door to FOGASA opens.

Step 4: should I ask to terminate the contract?

If the non-payment is continuing, article 50 of the Statute lets you ask the judge to terminate the contract for serious breach by the employer. If granted, you are entitled to unfair-dismissal severance: 33 days’ salary per year worked since February 2012, with a maximum of 24 monthly payments, and the 45-day rule for the earlier period. How to calculate severance for unfair dismissal has the cases.

With important caveats:

• Keep working until the judge decides. Stopping on your own can turn into a disciplinary offence or a resignation.
• You have to sue: termination is not automatic. The judge decides it.
• If the judgment grants it, there is normally a legal situation of unemployment and you can apply for unemployment benefit. Before deciding, check with a union or the SEPE how it affects your case.
• There is a deadline and a burden of proof: the repetition of the non-payments.

What FOGASA pays

The Fondo de Garantía Salarial is a public body that pays part of what an insolvent employer owes you. It covers two things:

With the 2026 minimum wage (1,221 euros a month in 14 payments, according to the information consulted), the maximum daily wage that counts is about 93.66 euros. That puts the ceiling for unpaid wages at around 11,239 euros (93.66 × 120) and for severance at about 34,186 euros (93.66 × 365). These are figures to get your bearings: before counting on them, confirm the current minimum wage and the caps on the FOGASA website.

When it pays

It is not an automatic fund. In general, it requires the employer to be in a recognised situation of insolvency: declared by the court, in insolvency proceedings (concurso de acreedores) or, in some cases, a collective termination in small companies or due to force majeure. Normally you must first have obtained a judgment, a conciliation certificate or a resolution recognising the debt, and have tried to collect from the employer.

How to apply

You apply through the FOGASA online office with the wages or severance application form, providing the judgment or certificate and the employer’s details. The deadline is one year from when the claim could be demanded, and it is interrupted by claims against the employer. The body has a resolution period of months, so do not wait until the last week.

An example with numbers

You earn 1,600 euros gross a month in 14 payments (1,600 × 14 / 365 = 61.37 euros a day). You have gone 3 months without pay and the summer extra payment is also pending. The employer enters insolvency proceedings.

• Unpaid wages: 3 × 1,600 = 4,800 euros, plus the summer extra payment of 1,600 euros, up to 6,400 euros.
• FOGASA cap: twice the daily minimum wage with extra payments (about 93.66 euros a day), so your daily salary of 61.37 euros fits entirely.
• The 120 days of wages covered add up to more than what you are owed, so you would collect almost everything.

If instead you earned 3,500 euros gross a month in 14 payments, your daily salary (134.25 euros) would exceed the cap and FOGASA would only pay up to 93.66 per day. And in addition, 10% annual interest for late payment: you claim that from the employer, not from FOGASA.

Mistakes that cost money

• Waiting for it to “sort itself out”. Each month that passes shortens the one-year deadline of the oldest payslips.
• Stopping going to work without a court decision.
• Signing a finiquito or an acknowledgement of debt that waives part of what is owed. How to sign a finiquito with a reservation.
• Not claiming the interest and the pro-rated extra payments.
• Not attending conciliation, which is mandatory before you can sue.
• Filing the FOGASA application without the documents, the judgment or the certificate.

Common cases

They pay me, but always late. Repeated delays, even if the employer ends up paying, can support a request to terminate the contract if they are continuing and serious. A delay of two or three days in a single month is usually not enough; delays of several weeks every month are. Keep every payslip with the actual payment date, so you can prove the repetition.

They tell me the company “has no cash” and pay me in instalments. You can accept a schedule, but in writing, with amounts and dates, and without waiving what is owed. A verbally agreed instalment plan is easy to break and hard to prove. If you accept it, state expressly that you do not waive the interest or the outstanding amounts.

They owe me extra payments and holiday. They are claimed together with the wages. Pro-rated extra payments and accrued, untaken holiday are part of the debt. Make a spreadsheet with each item and month to present at conciliation.

The employer pays me part “under the table”. Claiming what does not appear on the payslip is possible, but the evidence is harder: transfers, messages, witnesses. And it has consequences for contributions and for you. Before taking the step, consult a union or a labour lawyer.

The employer goes into insolvency proceedings. File your claim in the proceedings and, at the same time, ask the insolvency administrator for information. Wages for the last 30 days worked, up to a limit, get preferential treatment. FOGASA can pay the part that meets its requirements. A union usually accompanies the workforce in this process.

Model claim to the employer

Subject: Claim for unpaid wages

Good morning. As of today, I have not received payment of the payslips for [months], for an approximate amount of [amount] euros gross, plus the accrued extra payments. I require you to pay these amounts within five working days. Otherwise, I will be obliged to claim in court, including the 10% late-payment interest under article 29.3 of the Workers Statute. Kind regards.

If the issue concerns hours added to your working day, check the legal limit and pay for overtime in Spain alongside your records.

To compare hours with your payslip, request and keep the working time record in Spain.

Send it by burofax or by email with acknowledgement of receipt. Keep the receipt.

Frequently asked questions

• Can I apply for unemployment benefit if I am dismissed and not paid? If you are dismissed, you are in a legal situation of unemployment. The wage debt does not prevent you from collecting unemployment benefit, and the claim goes its own way.
• Does FOGASA pay me if the employer is still open? As a general rule, no: it requires insolvency or specific situations. If the employer is still active and solvent, you claim from it.
• How long does FOGASA take? The resolution can take months from when you file the application with all the documentation.
• Do I have to keep contributing? Social security contributions are the employer’s obligation. Check your vida laboral (work-life report): if it is not contributing during the unpaid months, claim that too.

What I would do

With the first unpaid payslip, I would send a clear email and keep the proof. With the second, I would file the conciliation request. If the employer does not put it right, I would gather the payslips and ask a union for help with the claim, and if the non-payments are serious, I would consider asking to terminate the contract, without stopping going to work. And in the meantime, I would watch the state of the company: if there are signs of insolvency proceedings, FOGASA is the last resort and it is worth having the judgment or the certificate as soon as possible.

Where to go next

If the non-payment reaches the end of the relationship, the settlement on dismissal and how to calculate a finiquito help you check each item. For the general deadline of a dismissal, the deadline to claim.