Employment reform in Spain: New work-life balance and information obligations for employers

Countdown to Law 4/2026: new work-life balance obligations for companies and reasonable adjustments in the workplace 

Law 4/2026 of 1 October, which amends the Recast General Law on the rights of persons with disabilities and their social inclusion, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2013, of 29 November, and Law 39/2006, of 14 December, on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for Dependant Persons, on extending and strengthening the rights of persons with disabilities to inclusion, autonomy and universal access in accordance with Article 49 of the Spanish Constitution ("Law 4/2026"), enters into force on Friday 23 October.

The reform introduces a number of measures of particular relevance to employers. These include the extension of certain work-life balance rights, changes affecting reductions in working hours for the care of minors with serious illnesses, strengthened rights to reasonable adjustments and new obligations on employers whose activities involve habitual contact with disabilities or dependent persons.

Amendment of Article 37.6 of the Spanish Workers' Statute

The tenth final provision of Law 4/2026 amends Article 37.6 of the Spanish Workers' Statute. Where a person has a severe disability or a high level of dependency requiring continuous care, the right to reduce working hours to care for children may continue beyond age limits previously established, for as long as the need doe care is duly evidenced and the requirement to live with the beneficiary continues to be met.

Where a special degree of care is required, both parents may share the reduction of working hours concurrently, in proportion to the time assumed by each parent. Their combined reductions cannot exceed 100% of a full working day. This applies irrespective of the parents’ marital status.

The reform also removes the employer’s ability to restrict the simultaneous exercise of the right where two or more employees of the same company seek to exercise it in respect of the same eligible person, even where there are compelling reasons for doing so.

What this means for employers, in practice, is that they should be prepared for potentially longer periods of reduced hours taken by workers. They will also need to periodically verify that the circumstances giving rise to the right continue to exist. At the same time, employers will no longer be able to rely on organisational grounds to prevent both parents from exercising a reduction of working hours in respect of the same qualifying person.

Companies will therefore need to review their internal policies to adapt them to the new Article 37.6 of the Spanish Workers' Statute.

Amendment to paragraph 2 of Article 40 of the General Law on the rights of persons with disabilities

The new wording broadens the group of persons protected by the obligation to provide reasonable adjustments: the obligation is no longer limited to meeting the needs of employees who themselves have a disability. Employers must now extend these measures to spouses, common-law partners and relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity who care for a person with a disability, provided that the adjustment does not impose an excessive burden on the employer.

In practice, this means that companies will also have to assess requests for workplace or accessibility adjustments made by employees who, although they themselves do not have a disability, care for a close relative who does.

New background-check requirements for care-related roles and amendment of LISOS

The reform also introduces new obligations affecting workers whose profession, trade or activity involves habitual contact with persons with disabilities or dependent persons, who are now subject to new monitoring requirements. If an entry is subsequently made with the Central Registry of Sex Offenders and Human Trafficking Offenders, the employer may, in the cases provided for by law, be required to immediately remove that person from the activity concerned. Before doing so, and provided it is legally and practically possible, the employer must consider whether the employee concerned can be reassigned to duties that do not involve that frequent contact with the relevant vulnerable persons.

In turn, employees are also required to notify their employer of any change made to that record, including changes that relate to events prior to the start of their activity. A failure to do so may constitute a serious and culpable breach under Article 54.2(d) of the Spanish Workers' Statute.

Employers that fail to conduct the required checks may, in turn, commit a very serious infringement under Article 8.19 LISOS (Recast Law on Labour Infractions and Sanctions, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2000, of 4 August). The internal verification procedure implemented by employers must in all cases comply with both these legal requirements and data protection regulations.

Employment contracts: new information requirements

Spain has published the new Royal Decree 723/2026, of 9 September ("RD 723/2026"), which transposes Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 20 June 2019, on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union.

RD 723/2026 entered into force on 5 October and has a direct impact on the contractual documentation of all companies with employees in Spain. Although existing contracts enjoy more leeway, as the obligation to provide information depends on the worker expressly requesting it, it would be advisable for employers to begin adapting their contracts as soon as possible.

Scope of the reform

Article 1 of RD 723/2026 amends Article 8.5 of the Spanish Workers' Statute regarding information on the essential elements of an employment contract with the aim of guaranteeing transparent and predictable working conditions.

As a result, companies will have to adapt their employment contracts that have a term exceeding four weeks.

Consequences of non-compliance

The ramifications of failure to implement the new measures are significant: fines may be imposed under Articles 6, 7 and 40 LISOS and certain employer rights may be curtailed, such as the power to terminate a contract during the probationary period, where this has not been established correctly.

The reform includes new provisions regarding fixed-term contracts, place of work, salary, working hours and seasonal contracts, as well as the introduction of new matters on which information must be given: the duration of probationary periods and obligations between the parties, the right to training, the existence of algorithmic systems affecting working conditions, the equality plan and harassment protocols, termination procedure, the applicable collective bargaining agreement, amendment of essential elements or performance conditions, and the system for Social Security-related collaboration.

As contractual templates, collective bargaining agreements and internal policies differ from company to company, no single approach that will work to adapt to RD 723/2026. However, the following guidelines are generally applicable, despite the need to conduct a targeted review of each company's existing documentation and internal policies:

1. Review of the SEPE information document. SEPE has published an informative guideline on the Royal Decree, which may be attached as an annex to employment contracts between employer and employee.
2. Cross-checking. The employer’s standard employment contract, the SEPE annex and existing internal policies or employee handbooks should be reviewed together before amendments are made. This will help identify potential inconsistencies or duplication and reduce the risk of inadvertently introducing terms that conflict with existing arrangements or the creation of unintended contractual rights.
3. New hires. Employment contracts for new hires may be adapted to include the minimum information required by the annex. The relevant information must be provided before the start of the new employment relationship.
4. Review of existing contracts. Employers may choose to complete the SEPE annex for existing employees. If so, the obligation is only enforceable where an employee expressly requests the information, in which case it must be provided within 30 working days.
5. Additional considerations on contractual wording. Certain contractual matters may be addressed by referring directly to the applicable collective bargaining agreement or to the employer's internal rules and policies. However, special care must be taken when wording the references to avoid inadvertently creating acquired rights or contractual commitments that were not originally intended. Likewise, the reference must not contravene the contents of the company's internal rules and policies. Therefore, although the new rules appear on the surface to impose a simple administrative formality, special care must in fact be taken by employers to comply properly with the new provisions.

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