No Work at the Company: Can They Deduct Wages or Hours?

Kevin is 25 years old, works as a waiter in Málaga, and has a full-time permanent contract. November arrives, customer numbers drop, and one day his boss tells him: “There’s no one here today, go home and you’ll make up the hours at Easter.” They do not give him advance notice. They do not show him any schedule. At the end of the month, he looks at his pay slip: two days deducted and another listed as “hours owed.” If something similar has happened to you, the important point is this: just because they send you home does not always mean they can touch your pay or require you to make up hours. If you want to review your case with Fernanda Vargas, employment lawyer in Madrid, you can write via WhatsApp or book an appointment on Calendly.

“There’s No One Here Today, Go Home”: Kevin’s November

The scene seems minor. One slow day. Then another. And another. In hospitality, retail, logistics, or services, it happens a lot: less work comes in than expected and the company tries to move the pieces quickly. Sometimes it does it properly. Other times, it does not.

In Kevin’s case, the problem was not only that the restaurant had few tables occupied. The problem was how the company reacted. It sent him home without prior notice, deducted his pay, and also suggested that those hours would remain pending for later. As if November were his issue and not the business’s.

That is the key to this entire article: one thing is organizing working time validly when work rises and falls throughout the year; quite another is sending you home that same day and turning that time into lost money or into hours you “owe.”

Kevin, moreover, had not received any communication about an hours bank, his collective bargaining agreement (convenio colectivo) said nothing about it, and no one had informed him of any scheduling system with those variations. That is why his question is the same one many people have: if the company has no work today, can it pass the cost on to you?

What the Law Says: If the Company Does Not Give You Work, You Keep Your Pay

Let us go back to Kevin. He was available to work. He had gone to his workplace. He did not refuse. He was not absent. He was not late. The restaurant simply decided not to give him work that day. In that scenario, the general rule is very clear.

“If the worker is unable to provide services once the contract is in force because the employer is late in giving them work due to impediments attributable to the employer and not to the worker, the worker shall retain the right to wages, and the employer may not have the worker offset what was lost with other work performed at another time.”

Translated into plain language: if you were ready to work and you do not work because the company does not give you work for a reason that depends on it, you still have the right to be paid. And they also cannot force you to “make up” that time later on.

The expression “attributable to the company” means exactly that: the cause falls on the company’s side and its organization, not on the worker’s side. In Kevin’s case, having fewer customers in November falls into that category. Kevin is not the one causing that situation. Nor does he control it.

That is why, in his case, both of the restaurant’s decisions fail. The deduction from wages fails. And the idea of leaving him with pending hours for Easter fails as well. Article 30 does not only protect wages: it also prevents that lost time from being turned into mandatory work on another day.

Lack of Customers Is a Business Risk

Imagine the same scene in other sectors. A store with very few sales on a Tuesday. A warehouse with fewer orders than expected. A service business with an especially slow week. It can happen. But that fluctuation is part of the business risk.

In Kevin’s case, the lack of customers does not suddenly become a debt he owes. He does not “owe” hours simply because the restaurant had a bad week. The law does not shift that business risk onto the worker who was available to provide services.

This is important because the problem is often presented with phrases that sound reasonable: “I’ll make it up to you later,” “you’ll work more hours in spring,” “I don’t need you today, but another day you’ll stay longer.” If what happened is that the company did not give you work for a reason that depends on it, that offset cannot be imposed as if you had caused the lack of activity.

A different matter is when the company uses a legal tool to redistribute working time. In that case, we are not talking about “owing hours” because they simply sent you home, but about organizing working time under specific rules.

Irregular Distribution of Working Time: When They Can Change Your Hours

This is the most important nuance. The restaurant owner could not do to Kevin what he did. But that does not mean a company can never move hours between slow periods and busy periods. It can do so in certain cases, through the irregular distribution of working time.

Irregular distribution of working time consists of spreading working hours unevenly throughout the year: fewer at some times and more at others. It is a legal tool, but it cannot be done in just any way or at just any time.

“Through a collective bargaining agreement or, failing that, by agreement between the company and the workers’ representatives, irregular distribution of working time throughout the year may be established. In the absence of such an agreement, the company may distribute ten percent of the working time irregularly throughout the year. In all cases, that distribution must respect the minimum daily and weekly rest periods established by law, and the worker must know, with a minimum notice period of five days, the day and time of the resulting work to be performed. […] In the absence of an agreement, the differences arising from the irregular distribution of working time must be offset within twelve months from the time they occur.”

What does this mean in practice? It means the company can reorganize hours throughout the year if there is a collective bargaining agreement or an agreement with the workers’ representatives. And, if there is no agreement, the company can do so within the limit of 10% of annual working time.

But there are conditions that cannot be skipped. The worker must know, with a minimum notice period of five days, the day and time on which they will have to work. In addition, daily and weekly rest periods must be respected. And, if there is no specific agreement, the differences generated by that distribution must be offset within twelve months from when they arise.

If Kevin’s restaurant had wanted to concentrate more hours at Easter and fewer in November, it would have had to fit that organization within these rules. What it cannot do is improvise on the same day, send you home, and then present it as if it were a valid redistribution.

The difference seems technical, but it changes everything. A properly implemented irregular redistribution reorganizes working time with prior rules and notice. Sending you home without notice and then handing you the bill is not the same thing.

Hours Bank and “Hours Owed”: Where the Difference Lies

In many workplaces, people speak of an “hours bank” to refer to systems that allow hours to be moved from one period to another. Sometimes they are regulated in the collective bargaining agreement. Other times, in agreements applicable within the company. That is why it cannot simply be said that every hours bank is illegal.

What you can be clear about is this: a valid hours bank is not the same as creating “hours owed” because there was no work today. In Kevin’s case, his collective bargaining agreement said nothing about hours banks and no one had informed him of a schedule or distribution in accordance with the law. That is why the restaurant could not dress up as an “hours bank” a decision taken on the spot.

• If there is a properly implemented irregular distribution, the company moves hours within annual working time, under the applicable rules, with a minimum notice period of five days, respecting rest periods and with the corresponding offset.
• If they send you home that same day because there are no customers, and then tell you that you “owe” those hours, they are not correctly applying that tool. In that case, the wage protection of Article 30 applies if the cause depends on the company.

Put very simply: one thing is reorganizing your working time; another is turning a drop in the business’s workload into a debt you owe.

What About Vacation? What They Cannot Impose on You

When there is no work, some companies try a quick fix: “then take vacation today.” That does not work that way either.

Vacation is set by mutual agreement and the schedule must be known at least two months in advance. That is why it cannot be imposed on you from one day to the next to cover a slow day or a week with little activity.

In Kevin’s case, it was not enough to change the label and call those days vacation. If the restaurant had a prolonged activity problem, the law provides specific tools for economic, technical, organizational, or production-related situations, such as an ERTE, with its own procedure and safeguards for the workforce. What is not allowed is to improvise deductions, forced vacation, or “hours owed” to fix it.

How to Claim the Deducted Days

If what happened to Kevin happens to you, the first thing is not to argue from memory about articles of law. The first thing is to keep evidence. The sooner, the better.

• Write down the days and hours when they sent you home or left you without actual work.
• Keep messages, voice notes, or emails showing that it was the company that told you not to work.
• Ask for a copy of the time record. That record can be important evidence to verify what was actually recorded and whether or not the company reflected your working time. If you want to better understand how it works, you can read this guide on mandatory digital time recording.
• Claim in writing for payment of what was deducted. It is important to leave a record that you do not agree with the deduction or with the alleged pending hours.
• If there is no agreement, the next step is to file a conciliation request and then a claim in court.

The time limit to claim amounts owed is one year from the date each amount should have been paid. In Kevin’s case, that year would start running from the time the days deducted from his pay slip should have been paid to him.

If, in addition, the lack of work is not something occasional but continues over time and they leave you without tasks or without duties on an ongoing basis, it is advisable to review the case as soon as possible. You can also get guidance from this information on what to do if they do not give you work and there is a stripping of duties.

And if you want a specific review of your pay slip, your collective bargaining agreement, or the correct way to make a claim, Fernanda Vargas, employment lawyer in Madrid, can help you through her employment law service.

Summary: Can They Deduct It? Table of Situations

Situation	Can they deduct it?	Key point
They send you home that same day because there are no customers or orders	No	If you were available to work and the cause depends on the company, you keep your wages.
The company says you will later “owe” those hours	No	They cannot offset that time with work at another time if the rule in Article 30 applies.
The company redistributes working time throughout the year in compliance with the rules	It is not an automatic deduction	It can reorganize hours if it respects the applicable legal system, the minimum notice period of five days, rest periods, and the offsetting of differences.
There is an hours bank regulated in a collective bargaining agreement or agreement and it is applied correctly	It depends	You have to review exactly what that regulation allows and whether its conditions have been respected.
They impose vacation on you from one day to the next because work has slowed down	No	Vacation is set by mutual agreement and the schedule must be known in advance.
The lack of work continues for weeks or months	It cannot be fixed with improvised deductions	There are specific legal tools, such as an ERTE, with their own procedure.

Kevin’s story is resolved like this: the lack of customers in November was a risk of the restaurant, not his. That is why neither the deduction of the two days nor the third day as “hours owed” was valid. The company could only have moved hours validly by using the irregular distribution of working time and respecting its rules. Since it did not do so, Kevin can claim what was deducted.

Frequently Asked Questions

If days have been deducted from your pay, they have marked down hours you supposedly owe, or they are leaving you without work on an ongoing basis, speak with Fernanda Vargas, employment lawyer in Madrid. You can write to her via WhatsApp or book an appointment on Calendly.