Equality plan in a 50-employee SME in Spain: steps, deadlines, negotiating committee and registration

The day an SME reaches 50 people on its payroll it changes legal category, and one of the obligations that appear is the equality plan: a document negotiated with workers’ representatives, based on a diagnosis, with measures, a calendar and follow-up, and entered in a public register. It has been mandatory for companies with 50 or more workers since 7 March 2022, under Organic Law 3/2007 and Royal Decree 901/2020, and its absence is penalised and closes the door to public procurement. This guide explains, step by step and with deadlines, how to do it in an SME: when the obligation arises, who negotiates, what is diagnosed, what it contains, how it is registered and how it is kept alive.

When the obligation arises and how the workforce is counted

The obligation reaches companies with 50 or more workers. The count is made on the company’s total workforce, all sites and all types of contract, and Royal Decree 901/2020 sets rules so the threshold cannot be dodged:

• Part-time contracts count as one more person, regardless of hours.
• Fixed-term contracts terminated in the previous six months are added, counting every 100 days worked or fraction as one more person.
• The count is made at least on the last day of June and December each year. Once the threshold is reached, the obligation remains even if the workforce later falls, until the plan’s term ends.

Once the threshold is reached, the company has three months to set up the negotiating committee and, from then, a maximum of one year to negotiate, approve and file the application for registration of the plan. Companies with fewer than 50 are also obliged when their collective agreement so provides or when the labour authority so agrees in a penalty procedure in lieu of sanctions. The rest may do it voluntarily and register it all the same.

Who negotiates: the negotiating committee

The plan is negotiated, not drafted unilaterally. The committee is joint: half company, half workers’ representatives, with a balanced composition of women and men.

• If there is a works council or staff delegates, they form the workers’ side; with several sites, according to the representation at each.
• If there is no legal representation in the company or at some site, the workers’ side is formed by a committee of the most representative trade unions and those representative in the sector entitled to negotiate the applicable agreement; the company must approach them and they have ten days to respond. This is the most frequent case in SMEs that have just reached 50, and also where the calendar most often stalls.

The committee keeps minutes, may use external advice and has a duty of confidentiality over the information received.

The diagnosis: what is analysed

Before the measures you need to know where the company stands. The diagnosis is negotiated and must analyse, as a minimum, the subjects of Royal Decree 901/2020:

1. Selection and hiring process.
2. Professional classification.
3. Training.
4. Professional promotion.
5. Working conditions, including the pay audit of Royal Decree 902/2020.
6. Co-responsible exercise of personal, family and working life rights.
7. Under-representation of women.
8. Pay.
9. Prevention of sexual and sex-based harassment.

The diagnosis relies on data broken down by sex: workforce by groups, jobs, seniority, contract type and hours, hires and departures, training received, promotions, leave and reduced hours taken by each sex, and the pay register, which is the basis of the pay audit. The more organised those data are in the HR system, the shorter the diagnosis.

The pay audit

Mandatory for every company that must have an equality plan, it forms part of the diagnosis and has the same term as the plan. It includes a job evaluation with criteria of adequacy, completeness and objectivity to determine which jobs are of equal value, the analysis of the pay register with that classification, identification of the causes of the differences and an action plan to correct them, with objectives, actions, owners, timetable and follow-up.

Minimum content of the plan

The plan must include, as a minimum:

• Identification of the parties concluding it.
• Personal, territorial and temporal scope.
• Diagnosis report, and the pay audit report.
• Results of the diagnosis, with qualitative and quantitative objectives.
• Concrete measures, with deadline, priority, indicators and the people or bodies responsible.
• Material and human means and resources to implement it.
• Calendar of actions.
• Follow-up, evaluation and review system, with a committee that meets periodically.
• Composition of the follow-up committee.
• Procedure for amendment and for resolving disagreements.

Registration, term and follow-up

The plan is entered in the Register and deposit of collective agreements, collective labour agreements and equality plans (REGCON), within fifteen days of signature, with the required documentation. Registration is mandatory and public, and it is what the Inspectorate and contracting authorities check. The maximum term is four years; the plan must be reviewed when circumstances change substantially (mergers, changes in workforce or activity, court or Inspectorate rulings) and, in any case, with the periodic evaluation it sets, with at least one interim and one final evaluation.

Penalties and effects of not having a plan

• Not drawing up or not applying the equality plan when mandatory is a serious infringement under the Law on Infringements and Penalties in the Social Order, with fines of €751 to €7,500 depending on the grade; if the obligation stems from a penalty procedure or a labour authority agreement and is breached, the infringement is very serious.
• Ban on contracting with public administrations: the Public Sector Contracts Law bars companies with 50 or more workers that do not comply with the obligation to have an equality plan from contracting.
• Loss of public aid and subsidies and of rebates linked to compliance.
• And the effect that is not in the law: a plan negotiated in a rush to meet the deadline changes nothing; one made with data helps retain half the workforce, as we explain in talent retention in SMEs.

Typical calendar for an SME

When	What
Month 0	Workforce count at end of June or December: 50 reached
Months 1 to 3	Set up the negotiating committee; if there is no representation, notify the unions and wait ten days
Months 3 to 6	Data collection, pay register, job evaluation and negotiated diagnosis
Months 6 to 9	Pay audit and negotiation of measures, indicators and calendar
Months 9 to 12	Approval and signature of the plan; application for registration in REGCON within fifteen days
Every year	Follow-up committee meeting, indicators and, mid-term, interim evaluation
Year 4	Final evaluation and negotiation of the next plan

How LapsoWork makes it easier

The diagnosis and the audit feed on data LapsoWork already keeps: each employee’s record with sex, professional group, job, contract type, hours and seniority; the leave and absences taken by type and person, which show real co-responsibility; the archived payslips for the pay register; and the Excel export of all of it. We explain the other obligations that kick in at 50 in labour compliance for SMEs: 2026 guide.

Frequently asked questions

From how many workers is the equality plan mandatory in Spain?

From 50 or more workers, under Organic Law 3/2007 and Royal Decree 901/2020, generally since 7 March 2022. The workforce is counted across the whole company, including part-time contracts as one person and fixed-term contracts terminated in the previous six months according to their days worked. It is also mandatory when the agreement requires it or the labour authority so agrees.

How long does the company have to prepare the equality plan?

Three months from reaching 50 workers to set up the negotiating committee, and from then a maximum of one year to negotiate, approve and apply for registration of the plan.

What if there are no workers’ representatives?

The workers’ side of the negotiating committee is formed by the most representative trade unions and those representative in the sector entitled to negotiate the applicable agreement. The company must notify them of its intention to negotiate and they have ten days to respond and appoint their members.

Where is the equality plan registered?

In the Register and deposit of collective agreements, collective labour agreements and equality plans (REGCON) of the competent labour authority, within fifteen days of signature. Registration is mandatory and public.

How long does an equality plan last?

The parties set the term with a maximum of four years. It must be reviewed when circumstances change substantially and evaluated periodically, with at least one interim and one final evaluation before negotiating the next.

Conclusion

The equality plan in a 50-employee SME is a process with deadlines: three months for the committee, one year for the plan, fifteen days for registration and four years of term, with a diagnosis by subject, a pay audit and measures with indicators. What makes it long or short is the data: whoever has the workforce, leave and payslips organised by sex and job starts the diagnosis with half the work done. To have them that way, try LapsoWork free for 30 days.