How is Overtime Paid in Spain
Sometimes the boss may ask an employee to work more hoursthan those stipulated in their contract. This is known as overtime. In the following OneHowTo article we'll explain how overtime should be paid in Spain.
Steps to follow:
According to Spanish law, employers cannot force employees to work more than 40 hours a week, although many workers sign an 'opt out' clause in their contract. Therefore both employer and employee have to agree on reduced working hours or ensure that they are equal to 40 hours a week.
In addition, employees should have at least a day and a half off work to rest per week; anyone under 18 must have at least 2 days off a week. However, there are exceptions for sectors that are governed by specific regulations, such as security guards and the hotel and fishing industries.
As explained above, an hour of overtime equals every hour of work that exceeds the maximum number of working hours provided for either in the contract or by law. Thus, remuneration for overtime hours is mutually agreed by the parties or in the contract, but should never be less than the hourly or daily rate for the employees contracted working hours. Instead of a cash payment, the employee may also be granted extra time off.
Now let's look at how overtime is calculated in Spain. The worker signs an employment contract for 1,680 working hours a year. Let's suppose that in this case the working week is 38 hours, Monday to Friday, for 8 hours a day, except on Fridays when it's only 6 hours. Excluding any public holidays, the employee will work 1,976 hours, a figure we arrive at by multiplying the number of hours a week (38) by the number of weeks in year (52). However, workers in Spain get 14 public holidays throughout the year so we need to work those out (14 x 8 hours per day = 112). Now we'll subtract that figure from the total annual hours without public holidays (1,976) to leave a total of 1,876 working hours a year. We also need to take into account the standard 22 days' holiday leave that the employee is entitled to. So let's work out the hours that those days add up to (22 x 8 hours per day = 176) and subtract those for the total working hours (1,876). That leaves the employee with 1,688 hours. That means that in this case the employee will only work an extra 8 hours a year, because instead of his contracted 1,680 hours he's worked 1,688.
The maximum number of overtime hours that you can do in Spain is 80 hours a year. Overtime hours are usually paid at 75% of the basic hourly rate.
To calculate the overtime hourly rate, divide the monthly gross salary (without overtime) by the regular monthly working hours. This sum gives you the hourly rate of pay. Then multiply that by 75% (0.75) to get the overtime rate.
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