On 13 August 2026, Spain’s Official State Gazette published a new cooperation agreement between the Instituto de las Mujeres, Spain’s Women’s Institute, and the Organismo Estatal Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, the State Labour and Social Security Inspectorate. Its purpose is to strengthen monitoring and enforcement of workplace equality rules, with express attention to pay discrimination, sexual harassment and harassment on grounds of sex, highly feminised sectors and sectors where women are under-represented.
The agreement does not, by itself, amend the Workers’ Statute, change the headcount threshold that makes an equality plan mandatory or introduce a new filing deadline. It does establish closer cooperation between the two public bodies through information sharing, proposals for inspection planning, referral of complaints, training and awareness initiatives. For an employer, the practical consequence is straightforward: existing duties should be checked, kept up to date and supported by consistent evidence.
What does the agreement change — and what does it not change?
The first clause provides mechanisms for cooperation in supervising employers’ equality duties, preventing harassment and monitoring pay discrimination. It also envisages action in sectors with a high proportion of women where particular situations of vulnerability may arise.
The planned measures include proposals for annual planning, exchanges of information and advice, identification of priority areas and development of coordination systems. The Instituto de las Mujeres may refer complaints of social discrimination on grounds of sex to the Inspectorate, while the Inspectorate may consider proposals for its planning after assessment and through the applicable legal channels.
The agreement strengthens coordination between two public bodies; it does not automatically place every employer under inspection or create a new corporate duty merely because it has been published.
This distinction matters. It would be inaccurate to present the agreement as a wholesale reform or an indiscriminate inspection campaign. The prudent reading is that workplace equality, pay transparency and harassment prevention now have a more specific cooperation framework. If an inspection takes place, the employer will need to demonstrate compliance with the rules already in force through evidence that is stronger than generic or outdated documents.
Must every employer still maintain a pay register?
The pay register records the average values of salaries, salary supplements and non-salary payments received by the workforce, broken down by sex and organised under the applicable classification system. Article 28.2 of the Spanish Workers’ Statute and Article 5 of Royal Decree 902/2020 require every employer with employees to maintain one, regardless of size, including directors and senior managers.
It must contain the arithmetic mean and the median of the amounts actually received under each pay item, duly broken down by sex. As a general rule, the reference period is the calendar year, although the register must be amended when a substantial change in its elements makes an update necessary. Where there are employee representatives, they must be consulted at least ten days before the register is prepared and again before it is amended.
This is not simply a matter of filling in a template. The data must be accurate, current and explainable. A useful review should reconcile payroll, categories or roles, working hours, supplements, non-salary payments and the criteria used to allocate them. Differences are not automatically discriminatory, but they must be analysed to rule out a direct or indirect link to sex.
Spain’s Ministry of Labour provides an official pay-register tool. It may assist with calculations, but it does not replace a review of data quality or a legal assessment of any differences identified.
How do equality plans, pay audits and pay registers differ?
As a general rule, an equality plan is mandatory for employers with fifty or more employees. It may also be required by the applicable collective agreement or following a decision by the labour authority in sanction proceedings. Determining whether the threshold is met requires more than checking a single monthly payroll figure: the calculation rules in Royal Decree 901/2020 must be applied and the supporting evidence retained.
The plan must start with a negotiated assessment and set out measurable measures, objectives, responsible persons, a timetable, monitoring and evaluation. Organic Law 3/2007 lists minimum assessment areas including recruitment and hiring, professional classification, training, promotion, working conditions, shared responsibility for care, female under-representation, pay and harassment prevention. Equality plans must also be registered in the appropriate public register.
Employers that prepare an equality plan must include a pay audit. The audit is not the same as the pay register: it assesses whether the remuneration system effectively applies the principle of equality, requires a job-evaluation exercise and must lead to an action plan for correcting inequalities, with objectives, measures, a timetable and assigned responsibilities.
An employer may have a formally complete pay register yet still need to review how it allocates supplements, availability payments, promotion opportunities or responsibilities. It may also have a registered equality plan but have failed to implement or measure its actions. Genuine implementation and monitoring matter just as much as the existence of the document.
What harassment-prevention and non-discrimination measures should employers review?
Equality obligations extend beyond pay and formal plans. Organic Law 3/2007 requires employers to promote working conditions that prevent conduct affecting sexual freedom and moral integrity, with particular attention to sexual harassment and harassment on grounds of sex, including in digital environments. Measures may include codes of good practice, information campaigns and training, negotiated with employee representatives where applicable.
An effective protocol must be known, accessible and workable. Employers should review who receives reports, how confidentiality is protected, which interim safeguards may be adopted, how allegations are investigated and how retaliation is prevented. A file that no one knows about, or a channel with no designated owner, offers little practical protection.
The agreement also refers to access to employment, retention and professional development. A sound review should therefore cover job advertisements and interviews, promotion criteria, training, allocation of shifts and supplements, the exercise of care-related rights and any discretionary decision that could produce an unequal effect.
What evidence should an employer be able to produce during a review?
Proportionate preparation means gathering evidence and checking that it tells a coherent story. The review should include, among other items:
- The current pay register, its reference period, consultation with employee representatives and traceability to payroll data.
- The workforce calculation used to determine whether an equality plan must be negotiated.
- The registered plan, the assessment, negotiation records and evidence of monitoring and evaluation.
- The pay audit and job evaluation where they form part of the equality plan.
- The protocol and preventive measures addressing sexual harassment and harassment on grounds of sex, together with evidence of communication and training.
- Documented criteria for recruitment, classification, promotion, supplements, availability, work-life balance and shared care responsibilities.
- The response and corrective measures adopted after incidents, complaints or unexplained differences were identified.
This work can form part of a broader employment-compliance review. Advixy’s employment and payroll advisory service in Tenerife and the Canary Islands can help compare the documents with actual workforce management. You may also find our guide on preparing a company for a Spanish labour inspection useful, together with related checks such as overtime limits and time records in Spain.
Does the agreement create a new register or filing deadline?
No. It organises cooperation between the Instituto de las Mujeres and the Labour Inspectorate. It does not itself create a new employer register or set an additional filing date. The duties that apply come from the employment and equality legislation already in force.
Must every employer maintain a pay register?
Yes, provided it has employees. The register covers the entire workforce, including directors and senior managers, and must show the mean and median values for salaries, supplements and non-salary payments broken down by sex.
Must every employer have an equality plan?
No. As a general rule, the duty applies from fifty employees. A collective agreement or the labour authority may also require a plan in the circumstances established by law. Other employers must still adopt measures to prevent discrimination even when they are not required to prepare a formal plan.
Are the pay register and the pay audit the same thing?
No. The register is mandatory for every employer and documents pay information. The audit forms part of the equality plan and evaluates the remuneration system, job evaluation and the measures required to correct inequalities.
Does publication mean that every employer will be inspected automatically?
No. The agreement can improve planning, information exchange and the referral of complaints, but it does not announce an automatic review of every business. The possibility of scrutiny makes it sensible to keep the evidence complete, current and implemented in practice.
How should an employer prepare a proportionate review before inconsistencies become problems?
The best response is not to produce documents for their own sake. It is to identify the duties that genuinely apply, update the underlying data and address differences that cannot be justified. If you need to review the pay register, workforce calculation, equality plan or harassment-prevention measures, you can contact Advixy to define work that is proportionate to your organisation.
What are the official sources for this analysis?
- BOE: agreement between the Instituto de las Mujeres and the Labour Inspectorate, published on 13 August 2026.
- Organic Law 3/2007, consolidated text.
- Royal Decree 901/2020 on equality plans and registration.
- Royal Decree 902/2020 on equal pay.
- Spanish Workers’ Statute, Article 28.
- Ministry of Labour: official pay-register tool.
This article provides general information on Spanish employment law and the agreement published on 13 August 2026. It does not replace an assessment of the applicable collective agreement, workforce structure, documents or the employer’s specific circumstances.
