Tuesday. 19.03.2024

In Spain there are four types of employment contracts, as explained on the website of the State Public Employment Service (SEPE, for its acronym in Spanish).

The types of contracts recognized by Spanish law are:

Permanent or indefinite contract (contrato indefinido, in Spanish), Temporary or fixed-term contract (contrato temporal), contract for training and apprenticeship (contrato para la formación y aprendizaje) and internship contract (contrato en prácticas).

However, within each type there are several different contracts.

In this article we are going to try to explain the main characteristics of the different types of Spanish employment contracts.

You can also download here legal templates for each type of contract, extracted from the SEPE website, to fill out and sign with your employer or employees.

Permanent or indefinite contract (contrato indefinido)

The permanent or indefinite contract is one that does not establish time limits in the provision of services, in terms of the duration of the contract.

The indefinite employment contract may be verbal or written. The working day may be full or partial. You can also sign an indefinite contract for the provision of discontinuous fixed services.

Indefinite contracts may in some cases benefit from hiring incentives.

If you need to download an indefinite contract template, you can do it safely HERE

Temporary or fixed-term contract (contrato temporal)

The temporary contract, also called fixed-term contract is one that aims to establish an employment relationship between employer and worker for a specified time.

The temporary employment contract may be entered into full or part time. It will be formalized in writing, but it may be verbal when its duration is less than four weeks and it is full-time.

The contract must include the number of ordinary hours of work per day, per week, per month or per year contracted, as well as the manner of its distribution.

If you need to download a temporary contract template, you can do it safely HERE

Contract for training and apprenticeship (contrato para la formacion y aprendizaje)

The work contract for training and apprenticeship was created as an instrument to promote job placement and training for young people aged 16-25, in a regime of alternate paid work activity in a company with the training activity received within the framework of the training system professional for employment or education system.

If you need to download a legal template of a training and apprenticeship contract, you can do it safely HERE

Internship contract (contrato en prácticas)

The purpose of the internship work contract is to obtain by the worker the appropriate professional practice for the level of studies completed.

According to the government's explanation, it is not only a matter of acquiring experience in a certain job, but also that this experience has an effect on the studies completed.

This contract may be signed with those who hold a university degree or professional training of a medium or higher degree or officially recognized equivalent degrees.

If you need to download an internship contract template, you can do it safely HERE

Types of employment contracts in Spain and templates to download