Interim Substitution Contract Spain (Contrato de Interinidad)

An Interim Substitution Contract Spain (Contrato de Interinidad) is a specific type of temporary employment contract authorised by Article 15.1.c of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2015, de 23 de octubre) and developed in RD 2720/1998 de desarrollo del Artículo 15 ET en materia de contratos de duración determinada, permitting an employer to hire a replacement worker (trabajador interino) to cover the post of a permanent employee who is temporarily absent and retains the right to return to the same job position (derecho de reserva de puesto de trabajo) recognised by law or by a collectively bargained agreement.

The Contrato de Interinidad is one of the oldest and most clearly defined temporary contract modalities in Spanish employment law. The 2021 Labour Reform enacted through Real Decreto-Ley 32/2021, de 28 de diciembre, which fundamentally restructured the Spanish temporary contracts framework, expressly preserved the contrato de sustitución (formerly called contrato de interinidad) as one of only two lawful temporary contract types — the other being the contrato por circunstancias de la producción. The contrato de sustitución (the renamed and restructured form of the historical Contrato de Interinidad) now appears in Article 15.1 ET as reformed, permitting substitution of workers with right to job reservation or to cover a vacancy during a selection process.

The Contrato de Interinidad (in its pre-2021 Reform form, still applicable to contracts concluded before the reform and relevant as a reference framework) was also used to fill vacancies during selection processes for public employment or during the promotion procedure of an existing employee — cases now governed by the reformed Article 15.1 ET. The contract must specify in writing the name of the worker being substituted (trabajador sustituido) and the cause of substitution (causa de la sustitución), and must be communicated to the Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (SEPE) within 10 working days of its conclusion.

The circumstances authorising substitution under the Estatuto de los Trabajadores and the Ley General de la Seguridad Social (LGSS, RDL 8/2015) include: maternity leave (permiso por nacimiento y cuidado de hijo — 16 weeks under Article 48 ET as reformed by RDL 6/2019); paternity leave (16 weeks for the other parent under the same provision); risk during pregnancy (riesgo durante el embarazo) suspension under Article 45.1.e ET; risk during breastfeeding (riesgo durante la lactancia natural) under Article 45.1.f ET; adoption and foster care leave (adopción o acogimiento) under Article 48 ET; unpaid parental leave for care of children under three years (excedencia por cuidado de hijos) under Article 46.3 ET; unpaid leave for care of family members (excedencia por cuidado de familiares) under Article 46.3 ET; temporary incapacity (incapacidad temporal — IT) under LGSS Articles 169 through 176; and suspension for disciplinary reasons, ERTE (expediente de regulación temporal de empleo) under Article 47 ET, or judicial or administrative procedures.

The Contrato de Interinidad is characterised as a fixed-term contract (contrato de duración determinada) whose duration is intrinsically linked to the absence of the substituted employee — the contract terminates automatically when the substituted worker returns to work, when the employer formally acknowledges that the substituted worker will not return, when the vacancy is filled through a definitive selection process, or when the legally established maximum duration of the reserved position expires without the worker having returned. These termination causes are exhaustive, and termination on other grounds requires compliance with the dismissal procedures of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores.

Regarding compensation upon termination, the historical Contrato de Interinidad terminated without severance pay (indemnización) when the contract ended on the return of the substituted worker, relying on the exception established in the landmark ruling of the Tribunal de Justicia de la Unión Europea (TJUE) in the case C-596/14 de Diego Porras (2016), which held that the differential treatment of fixed-term workers with respect to severance pay may infringe the Framework Agreement on fixed-term work (Council Directive 1999/70/EC). Subsequent TJUE rulings in C-574/16 and C-677/16 provided clarification, and the Tribunal Supremo (Spain) has held that substitution contracts ending by objective cause (not by expiry) may entitle workers to a severance payment of 12 days per year of service under Article 49.1.c ET.

An Interim Substitution Contract Spain is required whenever a Spanish employer needs to maintain workforce capacity during the temporary absence of a permanent employee who retains the right to return to the same or equivalent job position under the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (RDL 2/2015) or an applicable convenio colectivo.

A Contrato de Interinidad (or contrato de sustitución under the reformed Article 15.1 ET) is needed when an employee is on maternity leave (permiso por nacimiento y cuidado de hijo — 16 weeks for each parent since RDL 6/2019, de 1 de marzo, which equalised parental leave rights) during which the position is reserved and the employer requires cover for the absent worker's job duties.

The contract is required when an employee is on temporary incapacity (baja por incapacidad temporal — IT) due to illness or accident, whether of common cause (contingencias comunes) or occupational cause (contingencias profesionales). The INSS (Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social) manages IT benefits after a waiting period, and the employer may need to hire a substitute from the first day of absence to maintain operational continuity.

A Contrato de Interinidad is needed when an employee is on unpaid parental leave (excedencia por cuidado de hijos under Article 46.3 ET) — of up to three years per child — during which the post is reserved for the first year and the employer may fill it on a temporary basis for the full duration of the absence.

The contract is required when an employee is on risk during pregnancy suspension (riesgo durante el embarazo under Article 45.1.e ET) after the Servicio de Prevención has confirmed that the employee's normal job duties pose a risk to the pregnancy and no adaptation or alternative assignment is feasible — this suspension may begin during early pregnancy and continue until maternity leave commences.

A Contrato de Interinidad is needed when an employer wishes to fill a vacancy during a competitive selection process (proceso de selección o provisión del puesto de trabajo) — whether for internal promotion or external recruitment — to maintain continuity until the vacancy is permanently filled.

The contract is also required when an employee is suspended under Article 47 ET (ERTE) if the ERTE authorisation covers individual posts and the employer needs to maintain those positions through substitution, which is an exceptional scenario requiring careful legal analysis of the collective procedure conditions.

Under the 2021 Labour Reform (RDL 32/2021), misuse of temporary contracts — including using substitution contracts without a genuine absence and job reservation — is penalised through the deeming of the contract as indefinite (presunción de contrato indefinido) and the employer may face administrative sanctions from the Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social (ITSS) under the Real Decreto Legislativo 5/2000 (Ley de Infracciones y Sanciones en el Orden Social — LISOS), ranging from €751 to €7,500 per worker for serious infractions.

A valid Interim Substitution Contract Spain under Article 15.1.c of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores and RD 2720/1998 must contain the following essential elements to be enforceable and to satisfy SEPE registration requirements.

Identification of Parties: Full legal name, DNI/NIE, and address of both the employer (empresario) and the substitute employee (trabajador interino). For corporate employers, the NIF, Registro Mercantil details, and the name of the legal representative are required.

Identification of the Substituted Worker: The full name and DNI of the permanent employee being substituted (trabajador sustituido) must be stated in the contract — this is a mandatory requirement under Article 6.1 RD 2720/1998. Failure to identify the substituted worker may cause the contract to be deemed indefinite by the Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social or the Juzgado de lo Social.

Cause of Substitution: A clear statement of the legal cause justifying the substitution — maternity/paternity leave (permiso por nacimiento), temporary incapacity (IT), excedencia por cuidado de hijos, riesgo durante el embarazo, or other Article 45 ET or Article 46.3 ET cause — with the expected duration where known, referencing the specific statutory provision. For vacancy-filling substitutions, the contract must state that the substitution is to cover a position during a selection process.

Job Position and Duties: The job title, professional group, and specific duties of the substitute worker. The substitute worker must be assigned to the same or similar duties as the substituted employee, though the employer retains the right to assign different duties within the same professional group in accordance with the convenio colectivo.

Duration and Termination Events: The contract duration is determined by the cause — it ends automatically when: the substituted worker returns to work (and must notify the employer of the return date as soon as known); the employer acknowledges the substituted worker's permanent inability to return; the selection process for the vacancy concludes; or the statutory maximum reservation period expires. The contract must specify these termination events to avoid dispute upon termination.

Working Hours and Modality: The agreed working hours (jornada) — which may differ from those of the substituted worker if a part-time substitution is agreed — and the work modality (presencial, teletrabajo, or híbrido), with any remote work arrangement requiring compliance with Ley 10/2021 de Trabajo a Distancia.

Salary and Benefits: The gross salary of the substitute worker, which must equal or exceed the minimum established by the applicable convenio colectivo for the professional group and position. The salary may differ from that of the substituted worker if the agreed level meets convenio minimums, though equal pay for equal work principles under Article 28 ET apply.

Probationary Period: The parties may agree a probationary period (período de prueba) under Article 14 ET — maximum 6 months for qualified technicians and 2 months for others — noting that if the substitute worker has previously performed the same functions at the same company, a new probationary period for those functions is not permitted.

SEPE Registration: The contract must be communicated to the SEPE within 10 working days of signature through the Contrat@ electronic platform under Article 16.1 ET and RD 1483/2012. The SEPE model contract (Modelo E60) specifically designed for substitution contracts should be used as the basis for registration.

Social Security: The employer must register the substitute worker with the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS) before commencement of work, using the employer's Código de Cuenta de Cotización (CCC). The INSS tracks the substitute worker's social security record separately from the substituted worker, whose IT or maternity benefit is managed independently.

Termination Compensation: The contract must address the compensation applicable upon termination — under Article 49.1.c ET, a substitution contract that terminates by the return of the substituted worker traditionally did not trigger severance pay, but following TJUE case law (C-596/14 de Diego Porras), employers should take legal advice on whether a 12-days-per-year severance applies. Forms-legal.com recommends consulting a qualified abogado laboralista before executing or terminating a Contrato de Interinidad to confirm compliance with the most current TJUE and Tribunal Supremo case law and the post-2021 Reform legal framework.

Under the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (ET) RDL 2/2015, Spanish employment law governs contracts, dismissals, and working conditions. The Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS) administers social security contributions. The Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal (SEPE) manages unemployment benefits. The Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social enforces labour compliance. The Juzgados de lo Social hear employment disputes under the Ley Reguladora de la Jurisdicción Social (Ley 36/2011).