Transparent working conditions: the information every employer in Spain must hand over before the first day, from 5 October 2026 (Royal Decree 723/2026)

A restaurant in Corralejo, Fuerteventura, has hired a waiter for the winter seasons, on a fijo-discontinuo contract that starts on Thursday 15 October 2026. Until now, whatever essential terms his written contract did not contain could reach him up to two months after his first day. Not this time. On 15 September the Official State Gazette published Royal Decree 723/2026, which applies from Monday 5 October 2026: the list of things an employer must tell an employee in writing grows from nine items to seventeen, and all of it must be in the employee's hands before the work starts. The cook who has worked in the same kitchen since 2019 gains something too: from 5 October she can ask for the same information and must receive it within thirty working days. This note reads the decree article by article — who is covered, what the document must say, how it is delivered and proved, what happens with the people already on the payroll and what a breach costs. Quotations are in Spanish with the reading in English.

What changes on 5 October 2026

The Workers' Statute has long required an employer, in any relationship lasting more than four weeks, to inform the employee in writing of the essential elements of the contract whenever they are not already in a written contract, en los términos y plazos que se establezcan reglamentariamente — on the terms and within the time limits set by regulation (article 8.5). For twenty-eight years that regulation was Royal Decree 1659/1998. The new decree repeals it (single repealing provision) and takes its place, and with it Spain transposes — partially, in the decree's own words (second final provision) — Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions, whose deadline for the Member States was 1 August 2022 (article 21.1 of the directive). It enters into force twenty days after its publication (fourth final provision), that is, on 5 October 2026.

The deadline is the change every employer will feel. The old decree allowed the information to arrive en el plazo de dos meses a contar desde la fecha de comienzo de la relación laboral — within two months of the date on which the employment relationship began (article 6.1); the new one requires it con carácter previo al inicio de la relación laboral — before the employment relationship begins (article 7.1). The directive itself would have been satisfied with a week for the basic terms and a month for the rest, counted from the first day of work (article 5.1); Spain has chosen the stricter rule.

Who is covered

The decree applies to every company and every employee within the scope of the Workers' Statute (article 2.1), and its general chapter to relationships lasting more than four weeks (article 2.2), the threshold the Statute already used. It makes no exception by size: a company with one employee owes the same document as a hotel chain. Public employees are included, with the peculiarities of their own legislation (article 2.6), and two further chapters deal with fishers and seafarers on Spanish-flagged vessels, whose contracts are always in writing whatever their duration (articles 10.1 and 13.1).

The special employment relationships are covered en los términos previstos en sus normas específicas — on the terms laid down in their own rules — and in any case when those rules refer expressly to the Statute or apply it in a supplementary way (article 2.5). That matters to a household. A family that employs a cleaner, a carer or a gardener at home is an employer under the household-employment decree, Royal Decree 1620/2011, which already gives the employee the right to this information whenever it is not in a written contract and adds three items of its own: payments in kind, the agreed presence time and how it is paid, and the rules for overnight stays (article 5.4). That article still refers by name to the 1998 decree now repealed; since the household decree applies the common labour rules wherever it has none of its own (article 3.b), the prudent reading is that a household now owes the new list as well.

The seventeen items

Article 3.2 lists them from a) to q). Read in groups, the document must set out:

• Who, when and where. The identity of the parties; the start date and, in a temporary contract, the end date or the expected duration; the company's registered office, the workplace, the centre to which a remote worker is attached and, where it applies, the fact that the work is done at several or mobile workplaces or that the employee is free to choose the place.
• The job. The content of the work and the professional group or category, with a description precise enough to know what the job consists of. In a temporary contract, also la identificación precisa de la causa habilitante de dicha contratación, las circunstancias concretas que la justifican y su conexión con la duración prevista del contrato — the precise identification of the cause that permits that contract, the concrete circumstances that justify it and their connection with its expected duration: the same three things the Statute requires for a temporary contract to be justified (article 15.1).
• Pay. The base salary and each supplement, stated separately, with the frequency and method of payment; and, for variable pay, how it is calculated and the criteria that decide whether it is earned.
• Working time. The daily, weekly and annual hours and their distribution, saying whether all or part of them is night or shift work; when and how hours and shifts may be changed; what has been agreed on overtime and its pay; the length of the holiday and how its dates are fixed. Where the hours are distributed irregularly over the year, the document adds las horas y los días de referencia en los que la empresa puede exigir la prestación de servicios — the reference hours and days on which the company may require work — together with the minimum notice before a task begins and before it is cancelled and, in fijo-discontinuo contracts, the periods of activity and inactivity, or an estimate of them.
• Probation and training. The concrete length and the conditions of the probation period, when one is agreed, and the right to the training the company provides.
• Equality and policies. Whether an equality plan applies to the company and which one, its work-life balance policy where it goes beyond the legal minimum, the protocol against sexual harassment and harassment on grounds of sex and, if the company has one, its plan of measures for the equality of LGTBI people.
• The end of the contract. The procedure for ending it, with its formal requirements and the notice periods each side must respect.
• The collective agreement. Its code, the date of its publication in the official gazette, its period of validity and, where it applies, the fact that it has expired and continues to apply — its ultraactividad.
• Social Security. The body the company has chosen to cover its contingencies (in practice the mutua), any voluntary improvement of the public benefits, and the pension plans promoted for the staff, with the contributions made to them.
• Changes. The cases in which the job, the group, the pay or the working time could be modified, and the procedure to be followed.

Two items complete the list: a worker supplied by a temporary employment agency is told the user company and the cause of each assignment, and every worker is told about the automated systems described below.

Not everything has to be written out in full. For the base salary and its supplements, the hours, overtime, holidays, probation, training, the termination procedure and Social Security, the document may simply refer to the law, the regulation or the collective agreement that governs them, siempre que dicha referencia sea precisa y permita identificar claramente las disposiciones aplicables — provided that the reference is precise and makes it possible to identify clearly the provisions that apply (article 3.3). The rest has to be spelled out, among it the parties, the dates, the place, the job and its group, the cause of a temporary contract, how variable pay is calculated, the irregular distribution of hours, the equality documents, the collective agreement itself and the automated systems.

The algorithm line

One item has no precedent in the old list: La existencia de sistemas algorítmicos o automatizados de toma de decisiones — the existence of algorithmic or automated decision-making systems (article 3.2.k). When such a system is used to set or change working conditions — the decree's own examples are the hours and their distribution, the assignment of tasks, pay, professional progression, the workplace and the termination of the contract — the information must include las pautas, criterios y reglas de funcionamiento — its guidelines, criteria and operating rules.

Until now the Statute gave information of that kind only to the works council, which is entitled to know los parámetros, reglas e instrucciones en los que se basan los algoritmos o sistemas de inteligencia artificial — the parameters, rules and instructions on which algorithms or artificial-intelligence systems are based — when they affect decisions on working conditions or employment (article 64.4.d). In a company without employee representatives, the Statute gave that right to no one. From 5 October it belongs to each employee, in the smallest company. The decree's preamble rests the rule on the European Artificial Intelligence Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/1689.

The decree does not define these systems. On our reading of its examples, a rota that a manager fills in by hand on a spreadsheet is not one; a program that allocates shifts, distributes tasks or scores performance by rules of its own is. A restaurant or a letting agency that uses such a tool should be able to describe, in a paragraph, what the tool decides and on what criteria.

Before the first day, and in a form the company can prove

Nothing obliges the company to produce a separate paper. The duty is fulfilled when the information is already in the written contract the employee holds, and only what the contract leaves out must be supplied, in one or more written documents (articles 3.1 and 6.1). In practice that means either a longer contract or a contract with an information sheet attached, handed over before the first shift.

The format is free within three conditions. The information may travel on paper or electronically, siempre que sea accesible para la persona trabajadora, que se pueda almacenar e imprimir y que la empresa conserve la prueba de la transmisión o recepción — provided that it is accessible to the worker, that it can be stored and printed, and that the company keeps the proof of its transmission or receipt (article 6.2). An email with the document attached or a staff portal that records the download fits those words; whatever the channel, the test is the same: the employee can keep and print the document, and the company can show that it was sent or received. On paper, a dated copy signed by the employee as received is the simplest proof. For an employee with a disability the company must make sure that the information is accessible and understandable (article 6.3).

On language the decree is silent for the general document; it asks for Spanish and English only in the model contracts for fishers and seafarers (second additional provision). For a team whose first language is not Spanish, a working translation next to the Spanish original is prudence, not a requirement of the text.

The model has arrived. The public employment service had twenty days from the decree's publication to make a model information document available on its website (first additional provision), and at the start of October 2026 it did: a seven-page form, in Spanish and in the co-official languages, that follows the list of article 3 and adds the sections for work abroad; it can be downloaded from the service's page on contract models. The decree had let nobody wait for it: La puesta a disposición del modelo de documento informativo no condicionará la exigibilidad de las obligaciones de información previstas en este real decreto — the availability of the model information document does not condition the enforceability of the information duties laid down in this royal decree. Nothing in the decree makes the use of the model compulsory.

Changes follow the same logic. Any modification of the listed items is communicated in writing lo antes posible y, a más tardar, el día en que el cambio surta efecto — as soon as possible and, at the latest, on the day the change takes effect (articles 5.1 and 7.3); the old decree allowed a month after it (article 6.3). No new document is needed when what changes is the law or the collective agreement to which the document referred (article 5.2). And none of this replaces the Statute's own formalities: the contracts that must be in writing, the basic copy for the employees' representatives and the procedure for modifying a contract stay as they were (article 8).

Work abroad

An employee who is to work abroad for more than four consecutive weeks receives a second layer of information before leaving: the country or countries, the duration, the currency of the salary, the pay in money or in kind with the expenses, allowances and advantages linked to working abroad, and whether repatriation is provided for and on what conditions (articles 4.1, 4.3 and 7.2). For a worker posted to another state of the European Union or the European Economic Area in a transnational provision of services, the list adds the pay to which the host state's law entitles them, the rules on reimbursing travel, board and lodging, and the link to the host state's official national website on posting (article 4.1.f).

The people already on the payroll

The decree does not oblige a company to re-document its whole staff on 5 October. For relationships already in force on that date it works on request: the company must give the information to the employee who asks for it en el plazo de treinta días hábiles a partir de la recepción de la solicitud y siempre que no obrara ya en su poder — within thirty working days from receipt of the request, and provided the employee does not already hold it (single transitional provision). The request covers the article 3 list, the information on work abroad for someone who had already left, and the changes made before 5 October; every change made after that date is notified under the new rule, by the day it takes effect.

Two practical notes. The decree fixes no form for the request, so an employee does well to make it in writing and keep the date, and a company to record the day each request arrives. And it does not say how working days are counted between a company and its employee; a company that answers within thirty calendar days never has to argue the point. In the Corralejo kitchen, the cook's contract of 2019 will contain part of the list; what she can ask for is the rest — the agreement's code and dates, how her shifts may be changed, the mutua, the equality and harassment documents, any system that allocates her hours.

What a breach costs

Not informing the employee in writing sobre los elementos esenciales del contrato y las principales condiciones de ejecución de la prestación laboral, en los términos y plazos establecidos reglamentariamente — of the essential elements of the contract and the main conditions in which the work is performed, on the terms and within the time limits set by regulation — is a minor infringement (Infringements Act, article 6.4), fined between €70 and €750 (article 40.1.a). It should not be confused with failing to put in writing a contract that must be written, which is a serious infringement fined between €751 and €7,500 (articles 7.1 and 40.1.b).

The fine is small. The document matters more as the company's own written record of what was agreed on hours, on variable pay and on the reason for a temporary contract.

The employer's checklist

• Contract templates. Compare each template with the seventeen items of article 3.2 and decide what goes into the contract and what into an attached information sheet.
• Before the first day. Hand the document over before the work starts and keep the proof: a signed and dated copy, or the record of the electronic delivery.
• The collective agreement. Have its code, the date of its publication in the gazette and its period of validity at hand: the decree now asks for all three.
• Software. List the tools that allocate shifts, distribute tasks or score performance, and write down what each one decides and on what criteria.
• Existing staff. Prepare the document for the people already employed and record the day each request arrives: the thirty working days run from then.
• Changes. Notify every change in writing no later than the day it takes effect.

From 5 October the question is not only whether a contract was signed, but whether the employee was told — in writing, before the first day, and in a way the company can prove.

The information duty is one piece of a larger file: the registration with Social Security, the contract and its filing, the time registry and the prevention documents are described in our guide to the first employee, and the company that does the hiring in our note on setting up an SL. Our employment team at the Costa Adeje and Corralejo offices reviews contract templates against the new list and prepares the information document, in Spanish and in the language of your staff; the consultation is a paid one, quoted in advance. The service is described on our employment law page, and the contact page has both offices' hours.

Common questions

I was hired before 5 October 2026. Can I ask my employer for this information?

Yes. For relationships already in force when the decree applies, the company must give the information to the employee who asks for it, within thirty working days of receiving the request, unless the employee already holds it. Make the request in writing and keep the date. Changes to your conditions made from 5 October onwards must be notified in writing by the day they take effect, without any request.

Is the employment contract enough, or does the company need a separate document?

The contract is enough if it contains everything on the list. The duty is fulfilled when the information is already in the written contract the employee holds; whatever the contract leaves out must be supplied in one or more written documents before the work starts. Several items — the hours, the holidays, probation, the base salary — may be covered by a precise reference to the law or to the collective agreement.

Can the information be sent by email or through an app?

Yes, provided the employee can access it, store it and print it, and the company keeps proof that it was sent or received. On paper, a dated copy signed by the employee serves the same purpose. The public employment service has published a model document, but the duty applied before the model existed and does not depend on it.

Do employees have to be told about the software that plans shifts or assigns work?

They must be told that algorithmic or automated decision-making systems exist. When such a system is used to decide working conditions (hours, tasks, pay, progression, the workplace or the end of the contract), they must also be given its guidelines, criteria and operating rules. The decree does not define these systems; a tool that only stores what a manager decides is, on our reading, not one of them.

We employ a carer at home. Does the decree apply to a household?

Household employment is a special relationship with its own decree, Royal Decree 1620/2011, which already requires the employer to give this information when it is not in a written contract, together with payments in kind, the agreed presence time and the rules on overnight stays. It still refers to the 1998 decree that has been repealed; because it applies the common labour rules where it has none of its own, the prudent reading is that the new list now applies to households too.

This article is general information as of 2 October 2026, not advice on any particular contract; the texts cited are Royal Decree 723/2026 of 9 September (Official State Gazette of 15 September 2026), Royal Decree 1659/1998, which it repeals, the Workers' Statute, Royal Decree 1620/2011, the Infringements Act and Directive (EU) 2019/1152. The collective agreement that applies to your activity may add rules of its own; a consultation with our employment team is a paid service.