Work Contracts in Spain Explained: Permanent, Temporary and Seasonal Jobs

Understanding Your Contract Before You Sign

Starting a new job in Spain — or trying to understand the contract you already have — can be confusing, particularly for expats navigating employment law in a second language. Spain's labour framework is governed by the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Workers' Statute), which sets out the rights and obligations of both employees and employers across all types of contract.

The good news is that Spanish employment law provides strong protections for workers across all contract types. The less straightforward news is that there are several distinct types of contract, each with different implications for job security, pay, redundancy rights, and benefits. Understanding which contract you are on — and what it means — is essential for anyone working in Spain.

The Main Types of Work Contract in Spain

1. Permanent Contract — Contrato Indefinido

The contrato indefinido is the standard employment contract under Spanish law — an open-ended agreement with no predetermined end date. It is the most secure form of employment available and carries the fullest range of worker protections.

Key features:

• No end date — the contract continues until either party ends it, subject to notice requirements
• 30 calendar days of paid annual leave — guaranteed as a minimum under the Workers' Statute
• Full social security coverage — contributions to Spain's social security system (Seguridad Social) cover healthcare, unemployment benefit, and pension accumulation
• Protection against unfair dismissal — if terminated without a legally recognised cause, the employee is entitled to compensation
• Mandatory severance pay — if dismissed for economic or organisational reasons (despido objetivo), the employee receives 20 days' salary per year of service, up to a maximum of 12 months' pay. If dismissal is found to be unfair (despido improcedente), compensation rises to 33 days' salary per year of service, up to a maximum of 24 months

The contrato indefinido is the contract type that employees in Spain generally aspire to — and since the 2021 labour reform (see below), it has become the default contract that employers are expected to use unless there is a specific justification for a different arrangement.

2. Temporary Contracts — Contratos Temporales

Temporary contracts have a fixed end date and are used when the work relates to specific, time-limited circumstances. Following significant labour reforms in 2021, the rules around temporary contracts were substantially tightened.

Before the reform, Spain had some of the highest rates of temporary employment in Europe — a structural problem that left millions of workers in a cycle of short-term contracts with limited job security. The reform addressed this by requiring employers to genuinely justify the temporary nature of a role. Using a temporary contract simply because it is more convenient or flexible for the employer — without a legitimate legal reason — is no longer permitted.

Under the reformed framework, two main categories of temporary contract exist:

Production-Based Contracts (Contrato por Circunstancias de la Producción)

Used for a predictable or unpredictable increase in production demand. These are capped at 6 months (extendable to 12 months by collective bargaining agreement in some sectors). They can also cover short-term occasional situations of no more than 90 days per year.

Replacement Contracts (Contrato de Sustitución)

Used to cover an existing employee's absence — for example, maternity or paternity leave, sick leave, or a period of reduced working hours. The replacement contract ends when the absent employee returns.

At the end of any temporary contract, employees are entitled to a severance payment of 12 days' salary per year of service — a right that applies regardless of the reason the contract ends.

3. Fixed-Discontinuous Contracts — Contrato Fijo-Discontinuo

The contrato fijo-discontinuo is one of the most important — and most misunderstood — contract types in Spain, particularly for workers in sectors such as tourism, hospitality, agriculture, and education, where work is genuinely seasonal or cyclical but recurring year after year.

As the Workers' Statute defines it: "This contract is used for jobs that are permanent but only occur during certain periods of the year." The distinction from a temporary contract is crucial: the job itself is permanent — it will exist next season and the season after — but it is not continuous throughout the year.

Key features:

• Permanent relationship with the employer — despite seasonal breaks, the worker is not rehired each season; they are called back by the same employer under the same contract
• Seniority accumulates — years of service build up continuously, including through inactive periods, which affects future severance calculations
• Social security registration remains active while working; during inactive periods the worker can access unemployment benefit (prestación por desempleo) accumulated during active periods
• Right to be called back — employers must call fixed-discontinuous workers back at the start of each active period in the order established by collective agreement or seniority. Failure to do so can be treated as dismissal

For workers in the tourism and hospitality sectors along the Costa Blanca and throughout Spain's coastal areas, the fijo-discontinuo contract is the standard arrangement — and understanding its protections is important for anyone in this situation.

4. Training and Apprenticeship Contracts — Contratos Formativos

Training contracts exist in two forms, both designed to combine employment with professional development for younger or less experienced workers:

Work-Training Contract (Contrato de Formación en Alternancia)

Aimed at workers under 30 (or without an upper age limit if the person has a disability or is in a vulnerable situation) who are undertaking formal training or education alongside work. The time split between work and training is specified in the contract. Initial salaries may be below the standard minimum wage during the training period.

Professional Practice Contract (Contrato para la Obtención de la Práctica Profesional)

For workers who have recently completed a qualification and are gaining practical experience in a relevant role. Duration is between 6 months and 1 year. The salary must be at least 60% of the standard rate for the role in year one and 75% in year two.

Both types include full social security coverage and carry the same fundamental employment rights as other contract types, including access to sick leave and parental leave provisions.

5. Part-Time Contracts — Contratos a Tiempo Parcial

A part-time contract applies to any worker working fewer than the standard full-time hours set by the applicable collective agreement or, where no agreement applies, the statutory 40-hour week. There is no minimum number of hours — a worker could be contracted for as few as a few hours per week.

Key features:

• Proportional rights — leave entitlement, social security contributions, and pay are all calculated proportionally to the hours worked
• Written contract required — part-time arrangements must always be set out in writing, specifying the number of hours and the distribution across days and weeks
• Overtime restrictions — part-time workers can only work overtime in limited circumstances; complementary hours (horas complementarias) above the contracted minimum must be agreed in writing
• Pension implications — lower contributions during part-time work mean reduced pension entitlement in retirement, which is particularly relevant for workers who spend many years on part-time contracts

Rights That Apply to All Workers in Spain

Regardless of which type of contract you are on, all workers in Spain benefit from a core set of legally guaranteed protections:

• Minimum wage — no worker can be paid less than the Salario Mínimo Interprofesional (SMI), currently €1,221 gross per month across 14 payments (2026 rate)
• Anti-discrimination protections — employment decisions cannot be based on nationality, gender, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics
• Sick leave (baja por enfermedad) — access to paid sick leave through the social security system, subject to qualifying conditions
• Parental leave — 16 weeks of paid paternity and maternity leave, fully paid through social security
• Workplace health and safety — employers must provide a safe working environment and comply with occupational health and safety regulations
• Right to organise — workers can join trade unions and participate in collective bargaining

What the 2021 Labour Reform Changed

Spain's labour reform of 2021 — formally implemented in early 2022 — was one of the most significant changes to employment law in decades. Its main effects were:

• Making the contrato indefinido the default — employers must use a permanent contract unless they can justify a temporary one under the specific categories permitted by law
• Restricting temporary contracts — the old "obra y servicio" (project-based) temporary contract, which had been widely abused to keep workers on rolling short-term contracts, was abolished
• Strengthening the fijo-discontinuo — the fixed-discontinuous contract was reformed and promoted as the appropriate tool for genuinely seasonal work, replacing the old temporary arrangements used in tourism and agriculture
• Strengthening collective bargaining — sector-level collective agreements were given precedence over company-level agreements on key issues including pay

The reform has broadly achieved its goal of reducing the rate of temporary employment in Spain, which fell significantly in the years following implementation.

Practical Advice for Workers in Spain

• Always get your contract in writing — verbal contracts are technically valid but extremely difficult to enforce. Insist on a written contract before starting work
• Check that your contract is registered — employers are legally required to register employment contracts with the public employment service (SEPE). You can verify this online at sepe.es
• Understand your collective agreement (convenio colectivo) — your sector's collective agreement sets minimum pay scales, working hours, and other conditions that may be better than the legal minimums. Ask your employer or union which convenio applies to your work
• Know your notice periods — notice requirements for resignation and dismissal vary depending on contract type, seniority, and the applicable collective agreement
• Seek advice if something seems wrong — if you believe your contract type is incorrect or your rights are not being respected, contact a trade union, a labour advisor (asesor laboral), or the Labour Inspectorate (Inspección de Trabajo)

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Employment law is complex and individual circumstances vary. If you have a specific employment query, consult a qualified labour lawyer (abogado laboralista) or gestoría in Spain.