On December 30, 2021, the reform of the labor law was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE). This includes relevant changes for employees and companies, as it implies greater job stability and the transformation of the labor market, among many other aspects.

The aim of this amendment is to put an end to one of the biggest problems facing the Spanish labor market: the excessive temporary nature of contracts. For this reason, a temporary contract may only be entered into to replace a worker or due to the circumstances of production; work and service contracts disappear.

However, this new reform does not completely repeal the 2012 labor reform, since, for example, the severance payment introduced in the previous text is maintained. What does increase in 2022 are the penalties in the event of non-compliance with the law, since these will be imposed per worker hired improperly and not per company as was previously the case.

labor contracts

What is an employment contract?

An employment contract is an agreement between an employer (the employer) and a worker or employee (the employee). By means of this, the employer obliges the employee to render a service under his direction in exchange for an economic compensation (a salary).

Employment contracts can be formalized either in writing or verbally, but it should be noted that if one of the 2 parties requires the agreement to be in written form, it may do so at any time during the contractual relationship.

On the other hand, since all labor contracts are indefinite term unless otherwise specified, the same applies to an oral agreement. If no evidence can be provided to prove that the contractual relationship is temporary or partial, the contract will be indefinite and full-time.

Types of employment contracts

Depending on the characteristics of the employment contract, there are different types.

Indefinite-term employment contract

An indefinite-term employment contract is one that is agreed without a fixed term. However, the fact that the contract is indefinite does not imply that it is full-time, as there are more types.

  • Full-time indefinite-term contract: this is the contract that establishes a full working day; the tasks performed cannot be sporadic and must be linked to the activity of the contracting company.
  • Part-time indefinite-term contract: this type of contract is the same as the full-time contract, but in this case the daily working day is reduced by half.

Temporary labor contract

A temporary employment contract is an employment agreement with a fixed duration. As with the permanent contract, this can be either full-time or part-time.

However, the reason must be justified, since this type of agreement is only accepted as valid due to circumstances of production, substitution of another worker or temporary coverage of a work place while a selection or promotion process is being carried out.

Discontinuous fixed-term employment contract

The fixed-discontinuous employment contract is an agreement used by all those companies and workers who perform their professional activity according to the seasons of the year or market demands (an intermittent but permanent job). This contract is used, for example, by some workers in the tourism, hotel and catering or agricultural sectors.

Training contract

Training contracts are those in which employees receive an apprenticeship in the company that hired them. Depending on their characteristics, there are different types:

  • Training contract in alternation (or dual training): this agreement is one whose objective is that the person hired can combine a paid work activity with training processes.
  • Training contract for obtaining professional practice: also known as internship contract. In this agreement, the employee acquires in the company that hires him/her a series of skills and abilities necessary to develop the work practice corresponding to his/her educational degree.
labor contracts

Labor reform 2021-2022

As indicated at the beginning, the labor reform of 2022, or Royal Decree-Law 32/2021, has brought important improvements to the labor market. However, it can be structured around a few key points:

  • Equalization of the rights of permanent and temporary workers.
  • Permanent contracts are the priority. Temporary contracts can only be signed under very specific conditions (to replace another worker or due to production circumstances).
  • Creation of 2 new training contracts: the contract for training in alternation and the contract for obtaining professional practice.‍
  • Limit of chaining contracts for more than 18 months within a period of 2 years; if not complied with, the employee would become an indefinite-term employee.‍
  • Increased fines for irregular contracting or contracting while an ERTE is in progress, among other aspects.
  • Creation of new ERTEs: ERTE ETOP (for economic, technical, organizational or production reasons) and ERTE due to force majeure (due to the impossibility of activity as a result of decisions taken by public authorities).
Give flow to your contracts

Control all your documents and make better business decision

How to automate your company’s labor contracts?

If you or your company spends a large percentage of your time managing employment contracts, it may be a good idea to incorporate document automation software.

From Bounsel we propose Bounsel Flow, a software that we have created with the purpose of eliminating repetitive tasks such as copying and pasting information from emails to the contract. In addition, this can also be useful to reduce typos that can arise from copying and pasting, and time spent filling out contracts.


Bounsel Flow
is very easy to use, just follow the steps below:

  1. Upload to the platform a template, in Word or PDF format, with the fields you need to have completed in the labor contract.
  2. Create the flow, our way of calling the creation of the interactive conversational form to which users will respond.
  3. Share the flow with whoever you want to fill it. In this case, the person you are going to hire.
  4. You receive the completed document as soon as the flow recipients complete it.

Start automating the creation of labor contracts with Bounsel Flow for FREE.