Objective Dismissal in Spain: 20 Days, Notice and 6 Hours Off

Teresa is 52, Cuban, and lives in Valencia with her long-term residence permit. She has worked for ten years as an administrative assistant at a graphic arts company and earns €1,800 gross a month (the details of the case are illustrative). One Friday, at the end of the workday, her boss hands her an envelope. Inside is a letter of dismissal on objective grounds.

If you have just received a letter like this too, take a breath: you have rights and you have a deadline, but it is short. In this article we will go through Teresa’s letter point by point so you know what dismissal on objective grounds (despido objetivo) in Spain is, what the company must comply with (severance pay of 20 days per year, 15 days’ notice and 6 hours off a week to look for a job) and how to challenge it in time. If you want your letter reviewed as soon as possible, write to Fernanda Vargas on WhatsApp or book an appointment on her Calendly.

“Due to the delicate economic situation”: the letter Teresa receives

Teresa’s letter is very short. It reads: “Due to the delicate economic situation of the company, we hereby terminate your contract on objective grounds with effect in fifteen days. The severance pay of 20 days per year will be paid to you when cash flow allows.”

There is nothing else. Not a single sales figure, no accounts, no explanation of why her position, and not another one, is the one that has to go. And there is one detail Teresa cannot get out of her head: that same week, the company hired a younger person to do tasks similar to hers.

On top of that, Teresa wants to use the fifteen days she has left to look for work. But her boss has been clear: “Full hours until the last day.”

Teresa is in shock. That is normal. What matters now is not to sign anything more than necessary, not to let time pass and to understand what the law says. Let’s do it with her letter in hand.

What dismissal on objective grounds is and what reasons the company can give

A dismissal on objective grounds is one the company bases on reasons that have nothing to do with your behavior. You are not dismissed for something you did wrong (that would be a disciplinary dismissal), but for a reason linked to how the company is doing or to your adaptation to the job. It is regulated by Article 52 of the Workers’ Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores), which lists several grounds.

Lack of competence

The first is lack of competence (ineptitud), that is, being unable to perform the tasks of your job. The law says:

“The contract may be terminated: a) Due to the worker’s lack of competence, known or arising after their actual placement in the company.”

In plain words: it has to be a lack of ability that becomes known or appears after you started working. And there is an important limit: if the company already knew about that lack of competence before you passed the probationary period, it cannot use it later to dismiss you.

Failure to adapt to technical changes

The second ground is failing to adapt to technical changes in your job, for example a new computer program. But the company cannot change everything overnight and dismiss you the next day. These conditions must be met:

• The changes must be reasonable.
• Beforehand, the company must offer you a course to adapt. The time spent on that course counts as actual working time and is paid.
• At least two months must pass from the change or from the course before the company can dismiss you on this ground.

Economic, technical, organizational or production reasons

The third is the most common one, and it is the one Teresa’s company gives. These are the same reasons that allow a collective dismissal (losses, falling sales, changes in the way of producing or organizing), but applied to a number of dismissals that does not reach the thresholds of a collective dismissal.

The key lies in one word: prove. The company cannot simply say that things are going badly; it has to be able to prove it. That is why a generic letter without any data, like Teresa’s, makes it much easier to challenge the dismissal.

The three requirements of the letter: reason, severance pay and notice

Besides having a real reason, the company must meet some formal requirements. They are in Article 53.1 of the Workers’ Statute:

“The adoption of the termination decision under the provisions of the preceding article requires compliance with the following requirements: a) Written notice to the worker stating the reason. b) Making available to the worker, at the same time as the written notice is delivered, severance pay of twenty days per year of service, with periods of less than one year prorated by months and up to a maximum of twelve monthly payments.”

The same article adds a third requirement: fifteen days’ notice, counted from the day you are given the letter until the contract ends. Let’s translate it all, requirement by requirement.

1. A letter that explains the reason

A dismissal on objective grounds must be notified in writing and the letter must state the reason. Saying “objective grounds” is not enough: you need to be able to know why you are being dismissed so you can defend yourself. Teresa’s letter mentions a “delicate economic situation”, but it does not provide any data to prove it.

2. Severance pay of 20 days per year, at the same time as the letter

The company must pay you severance of 20 days’ salary for each year you have worked. If you have worked part of a year, it is calculated proportionally by months (that is what “prorated by months” means). The maximum is 12 monthly payments.

And here there is an expression worth understanding: making available (poner a disposición). It means the money must be within your reach at the very moment you are given the letter, not days later or “when possible”. That is the general rule. Further down we will see the only exception.

In Teresa’s case, with ten years at the company, she is entitled to about 200 days’ salary (20 days for each of her ten years), far from the maximum of 12 monthly payments.

3. Fifteen days’ notice

Notice (preaviso) is advance warning. The law requires 15 days between the day you are given the letter and the day the contract ends. That gives you some time to get organized. In practice, many companies do not give those days and instead pay their equivalent. Teresa’s letter does respect the notice period: the dismissal takes “effect in fifteen days”.

What if they don’t pay the severance at the time?

This is Teresa’s big question: her letter says the severance will be paid “when cash flow allows”. Can the company do that?

The law provides for a single exception, and it comes with conditions. The same Article 53.1 adds:

“Where the termination decision is based on Article 52.c), on the grounds of an economic reason, and as a result of that economic situation the severance pay referred to in the preceding paragraph cannot be made available to the worker, the employer, stating this in the written notice, may refrain from doing so, without prejudice to the worker’s right to demand payment from the employer when the termination decision takes effect.”

In other words, the company can only avoid handing you the severance with the letter if these three things happen:

• The dismissal is based on an economic reason (not a technical, organizational or production one).
• Precisely because of that economic situation, the company cannot pay the severance at that moment.
• It states this in the letter.

Even then, your right to be paid does not disappear: you can demand payment when the dismissal takes effect, that is, when the contract ends. In Teresa’s case, the company could rely on this exception, because it gives an economic reason and says so in the letter, but Teresa can claim her 200 days’ salary as soon as the notice period ends. And the company saying it has no money does not relieve it of having to be able to prove that bad situation if Teresa challenges the dismissal.

Six paid hours a week to look for a job

This is the right almost nobody knows about, and the one Teresa’s boss is denying her. It is set out in Article 53.2 of the Workers’ Statute:

“During the notice period, the worker, or their legal representative in the case of a person with a disability who has one, shall be entitled, without loss of pay, to six hours of leave per week in order to look for a new job.”

This means that, while the notice period lasts, you are entitled to six hours a week to look for work without anything being deducted from your pay. You can use them to go to interviews, deal with paperwork or prepare your job search. In the case of a person with a disability who has a legal representative, that representative can also exercise it.

So, even though her boss says otherwise, Teresa does not have to work full hours until the last day: during her 15 days of notice she is entitled to those six paid hours a week. The practical thing to do is to request them in writing, stating which hours she will use, and keep a copy of the request.

Challenge it within 20 working days: the steps

To challenge the dismissal means to bring a claim against it before the courts. Article 53.3 makes it clear:

“The termination decision may be challenged as if it were a disciplinary dismissal.”

This means the same rules apply as for a disciplinary dismissal, including the deadline. And the deadline is the most important thing in this whole article: you have 20 working days from the date of the dismissal. It is a strict time limit (caducidad): if it runs out, you can no longer claim, even if you were completely right. They are working days, not calendar days, so it is best to count them with a calendar in front of you and not wait until the end.

The steps, in order:

1. Sign the letter only as received. Write “received” and the date, nothing else, and keep a copy. Signing this way does not mean you agree.
2. Write down the date of the dismissal and count the 20 working days. If in doubt about the exact date, don’t wait: start moving as soon as you receive the letter.
3. Gather documents: your contract, payslips, the letter and any information about the company’s real situation or later hirings. In Teresa’s case, the hiring of a younger person for similar tasks is an important fact.
4. File the conciliation request. Before going to court, you must try to reach an agreement with the company in a conciliation hearing. The application is called a conciliation request (papeleta de conciliación) and, when you file it, the 20-day deadline is suspended.
5. If there is no agreement, file a claim. If no agreement is reached at the conciliation, the next step is to file a claim with the labor court (juzgado de lo social).

Fair, unfair or null and void: what the judge can decide

When a dismissal on objective grounds is challenged, the judge assesses whether the reason has been proven and whether the company met the requirements. Nobody can guarantee the outcome in advance: each case depends on the evidence. There are three possible answers.

Fair

The dismissal is fair (procedente) when the judge considers that the reason exists and has been proven. In that case, the dismissal stands and you keep the severance of 20 days per year.

Unfair

The dismissal is unfair (improcedente) when the company fails to prove the reason. The company then chooses between two options: reinstating you (taking you back in your job) or paying you severance of 33 days per year worked, up to a maximum of 24 monthly payments. For contracts that started before 2012 there is a transitional regime with its own rules, which must be checked case by case. If you want to know how it is calculated, you will find more detail in our article on severance pay for unfair dismissal in Spain.

Teresa started working at the company ten years ago, so in her case it would be 33 days per year, if the company chose to pay severance instead of reinstating her.

Null and void

The dismissal is null and void (nulo) when it is discriminatory or violates fundamental rights. Article 53.4 puts it this way:

“Where the employer’s termination decision is motivated by any of the grounds of discrimination prohibited by the Constitution or by law, or has been made in violation of the worker’s fundamental rights and public freedoms, the termination decision shall be null and void, and the judicial authority must declare it so of its own motion.”

In addition, the same article gives special protection to certain workers: for example, during pregnancy, during birth or breastfeeding leave, if they have a reduction or adaptation of working hours for care reasons, or if they are victims of gender-based or sexual violence. In these cases, a dismissal on objective grounds is null and void unless it is declared fair for reasons that have nothing to do with that situation. If this is your case, you may be interested in our article on the dismissal of a pregnant worker and when it is null and void.

If the dismissal is null and void, the company must reinstate you and pay you back pay for the proceedings (salarios de tramitación), that is, the wages you stopped earning while the process lasted.

In Teresa’s case, such a generic letter, with no data proving the economic reason, and the hiring of another person for similar duties could lead to the dismissal being declared unfair. And if there were signs that the real motive is discriminatory, it could be null and void. It is the judge who decides, in light of the evidence.

Unemployment benefit and severance: what you can collect while you claim

Some good news in the middle of the shock: dismissal on objective grounds is a legal situation of unemployment. This means that, if you meet the other requirements, you can receive unemployment benefit (paro). To do so, register as a job seeker and apply for the benefit.

And another very common question: if I collect the severance, can I no longer claim? According to well-established case law, collecting the severance does not mean accepting the dismissal and does not prevent you from challenging it. Teresa can collect her 20 days per year, apply for unemployment benefit and, at the same time, challenge the dismissal within the deadline.

If you want a professional to review your letter and support you through the claim, Fernanda Vargas, employment lawyer in Madrid, can help you with your case through her employment law service.

Checklist for the letter and 20-day calendar

First of all, take your letter and go through these points:

• Was it given to you in writing?
• Does it explain the reason with specific data, or only with general phrases?
• Was the severance of 20 days per year made available to you at the same time as the letter?
• If it was not paid, is the reason given economic and does the letter expressly say they cannot pay it because of that situation?
• Are you given 15 days’ notice or paid its equivalent?
• Are your 6 paid hours a week to look for a job during the notice period recognized?
• Are you pregnant, on birth or breastfeeding leave, on reduced or adapted working hours for care reasons, or a victim of gender-based or sexual violence?
• Has the company hired someone else for your duties?
• Have you written down the date of the dismissal?

And this is the guideline calendar, from the day you receive the letter:

Moment	What to do
Day you receive the letter	Sign only “received” with the date and keep a copy. Check whether the severance has been made available to you.
First days of the notice period	Request your 6 paid hours a week to look for a job in writing. Gather your contract, payslips and the letter. Get advice on your case.
Rest of the notice period	Collect information about the company’s real situation and about any hirings for your position.
Date of the dismissal	Write it down: the 20 working days count from here. Register as a job seeker and apply for unemployment benefit. If the company did not pay the severance because of an economic reason, you can now demand it.
Before working day 20	File the conciliation request. Don’t wait until the last day.

How Teresa’s case is resolved

Teresa signed the letter as “received”, with the date, and kept a copy. This is what she knows now:

• Her company gives an economic reason and says so in the letter, so it could avoid paying her the severance at that moment. But Teresa will be able to demand it when the dismissal takes effect: about 200 days’ salary, within the maximum of 12 monthly payments.
• During the 15 days of notice she is entitled to six paid hours a week to look for a job, even though her boss says otherwise.
• The most urgent thing is the deadline: she has 20 working days from the date of the dismissal to file the conciliation request.
• Such a generic letter, with no data on the economic situation, and the hiring of another person for similar tasks may lead to the dismissal being declared unfair (33 days per year or reinstatement) or, if there were signs of discrimination, null and void.
• In any case, she is entitled to unemployment benefit, and collecting the severance does not prevent her from challenging the dismissal.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have received a letter of dismissal on objective grounds and want to know whether it complies with the law, write to Fernanda Vargas on WhatsApp or book an appointment on her Calendly. She will review your letter with you and help you not miss the deadline.