Up to what day can a company pay the payroll? Worker rights

Many companies are forced to delay the payment of wages to their workers. Although in most cases this situation is resolved a few days after the end of the month, in many others it spreads and becomes a real problem.

In these situations, it is advisable to know the basic legislation, which can later be expanded individually in the collective agreements of the companies.

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In the first place, the Workers’ Statute considers the salary as “the totality of the economic perceptions of the workers, in money or in kind, for the professional provision of labor services on behalf of others” that reward “actual work or rest periods countable as work”.

Specifically, this text includes, in its article 4, which deals with labor rights, that each worker has the right to “the punctual perception of the agreed or legally established remuneration”.

In addition, article 29 of the same text specifies that “salary settlement and payment will be made punctually and documented on the agreed date and place or in accordance with usage and customs.” Likewise, it details that the period of time to make said payment of the payroll “may not exceed one month.”

In fact, the same article of the Workers’ Statute states that interest for late payment of salary “will be 10% of what is owed.”

On the other hand, article 32, on the guarantees of salary collection, states that salary credits for the last thirty days of work “will enjoy preference over any other credit”, provided that the amount does not exceed twice the SMI .

very serious offense

Another important aspect in relation to the delay in the payment of a salary is determined in the Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order, which establishes as a very serious infraction “the non-payment and repeated delays in the payment of the due salary”.

In this sense, these very serious infractions are punishable by a fine, in its minimum degree, from 6,251 to 25,000 euros; in its medium grade, from 25,001 to 100,005 euros; and in its maximum degree, from 100,006 to 187,515 euros.