Employment lawyer in Barcelona: defend your rights before the CMAC and the Social Courts with specialist advisers

Employment law in Barcelona: a market with high trade union density and litigation

Barcelona is the capital of one of Spain’s regions with the strongest trade union tradition. The presence of UGT and CCOO in Barcelona’s business landscape is intense, and Catalonia’s provincial and sector collective agreements frequently provide better working conditions than national reference agreements. This creates a labour framework that is favourable to workers in terms of rights, but also an environment where businesses must manage their employment relations with particular rigour to avoid costly disputes.

The Barcelona Social Courts — headquartered in the Palau de Justícia — manage a high volume of employment proceedings each year, especially dismissals in the services, technology and hospitality sectors, and collective disputes relating to agreements and changes to conditions. Knowledge of the doctrine of the TSJ Cataluña, Labour Division, and the criteria of Barcelona courts is fundamental to designing an efficient litigation strategy.

Remote working and new forms of work organisation in Barcelona

Barcelona has a particularly high proportion of remote or hybrid workers, especially in the tech sector and at large multinationals based in the city. Spanish remote working regulation (Royal Decree-Law 28/2020, incorporated into the Workers’ Statute) requires a written remote working agreement covering connection costs, equipment, available hours, reversibility and the right to digital disconnection.

Many Barcelona companies that rushed to implement remote working during the pandemic do not have these agreements properly formalised, creating disputes over expense reimbursement, unilateral changes to remote working conditions and wage claims arising from unrecorded hours. At BMC we advise companies on formalising their remote working agreements and workers on claiming their rights where an agreement does not exist or is not respected.

Workplace harassment in Barcelona: document and act before it is too late

Workplace harassment (mobbing) is a frequent reality in companies of all sizes. In Barcelona, where business density and labour mobility are high, harassment can take many forms: isolation in remote teams, downgrading of responsibilities, exclusion from projects, pressure to resign, or discrimination on grounds of origin, religion, sexual orientation or gender.

Proving harassment is the main legal challenge: the conduct is usually subtle, gradual and frequently denied by the company. At BMC we advise from the first sign: how to document harassment episodes (chronological record with dates, facts and witnesses), how to raise an internal complaint through the anti-harassment protocol companies are required to have, and what legal options are available if the company does not act or acts insufficiently. Options range from constructive dismissal with compensation for serious employer breach (Article 50 of the Workers’ Statute) to filing a complaint with the Catalonia Labour Inspectorate.

Employment rights in Barcelona’s tech sector

Barcelona’s tech sector — with companies like Glovo, Wallbox, Factorial, Typeform and hundreds of startups at various growth stages — has specific employment features. Variable pay in the form of stock options, warrants or phantom shares is common, but their tax and employment treatment on dismissal or voluntary departure frequently generates disputes. Do unvested options lapse when you leave? How are options valued in the final settlement? Can the company unilaterally modify the options plan?

In addition, the international expansion of Barcelona companies creates situations of workers posted abroad or hired in other countries coming to Spain, with the complexities of Social Security coordination, taxation in the country of origin and application of Spain’s international labour conventions.