Employment contract under Spanish law (contrato laboral)

What it is and when it is used

A Spanish employment contract records the hiring of an employee who works for the company's account and under its direction, governed by the Workers' Statute (RDL 2/2015), the applicable collective agreement and Spanish labour law. According to Dealroom's current catalogue, the contract covers contract type (including fijo-discontinuo), pay, probation, working hours, the working-time registry (article 34.9 of the Workers' Statute), termination and severance, resignation notice, non-compete, IP, confidentiality and dispute resolution.

For employees under California or English law, see the employment agreement.

Who signs it and in which role

• The Company (Empresa), identified by its tax number (CIF).
• The Employee (Trabajador/a), identified by DNI or NIE.

The job title, salary amounts and other figures are set out in an Annex.

Key clauses

Contract type and pay

Indefinite, fixed-term for production circumstances, or training in alternation (working time capped at 65% of the maximum in year one and 85% in year two). Pay may be 14 payments (12 monthly plus extra payments in June and December), 12 payments with the extras prorated, or a fixed salary plus a variable component tied to written objectives, which counts as salary for all legal purposes.

Probation and working hours

Probation at the legal maximum, reduced to one month, or none. Hours may be full-time (40 hours a week in annual average, with minimum rest periods), part-time with the hours stated in writing, or flexible with remote work under Law 10/2021, which requires a separate remote work agreement and guarantees the right to digital disconnection.

Termination, severance and notice

Severance may be the legal minimum, enhanced (33 days per year for any involuntary termination), or an executive package (blindaje) with a fixed lump sum plus 12 months of private health insurance and outplacement. Notice may be 15 days, one month or three months.

Non-compete, IP and confidentiality

A non-compete is optional: the legal maximum with compensation, a 12-month covenant with proportional compensation, or none. IP may be assigned broadly, limited to the employee's job functions, or licensed non-exclusively while the employee keeps ownership. Confidentiality may be broad and indefinite, standard for two years after employment, or limited to trade secrets.

Dispute resolution

The labour courts after mandatory conciliation before the SMAC, mediation first, or labour arbitration where regulations and the collective agreement permit it.

What the two sides usually negotiate

The company tends to prefer a fixed-term contract, maximum probation, the legal minimum severance, a variable pay component and broad IP and confidentiality terms. The employee prefers an indefinite contract, no probation, flexible remote work, enhanced or executive severance and a licence model for IP. Dealroom's middle ground is 12 prorated payments, a one-month probation, full-time hours, enhanced severance, a limited IP assignment and two-year confidentiality. On contract type, notice, the non-compete and disputes no option is fully neutral; the moderate non-compete and one-month notice sit closest to the middle.

Jurisdictions and languages Dealroom supports for it

Spanish law only (Spain). The contract can be drafted in Spanish or English.

Common mistakes

• Misusing temporary contracts. They need a real legal cause; exceeding the maximum duration makes the employee indefinite.
• Probation for someone who already did the job in the company: it is void.
• A non-compete without adequate compensation, or with no real business interest: it is void.
• Remote work without a written agreement where it exceeds 30% of working time over three months.
• Ignoring the collective agreement, which can change pay minimums, extra payments and probation.
• Waiving non-waivable rights: the employee cannot give up rights the Workers' Statute or the collective agreement make mandatory.

# 1. Read the clauses, options and the facts it needs
curl https://dealroom.todo.law/api/v1/agent/templates/CONTRATO_LABORAL \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer drk_YOUR_KEY"

# 2. Create the contract (clauses you leave out take the default option)
curl -X POST https://dealroom.todo.law/api/v1/agent/deals \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer drk_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -d '{
    "schema": "dealroom.solo-intake/1",
    "contractType": "CONTRATO_LABORAL",
    "governingLaw": "SPAIN",
    "language": "en",
    "dealName": "Example CONTRATO_LABORAL",
    "selectionPolicy": "defaults"
  }'