The Labour Inspectorate in an SME: which documents it asks for, how the visit goes and how to respond to a requirement

The Labour Inspectorate arrives unannounced or summons you in writing, asks for a list of documents, talks to the employees and leaves. What happens next depends almost entirely on what the company had ready beforehand: a reliable working-time record, contracts and payslips that can be found, a displayed calendar and an up-to-date prevention plan turn the visit into a formality; the opposite turns it into a report. This guide explains how Spain’s Labour and Social Security Inspectorate acts in an SME, which documents it asks for, how the visit and interviews go, what separates a requirement from an infringement, what deadlines there are to respond and how to prepare so that the day it comes nothing changes.

Why the Inspectorate comes

Law 23/2015 on the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate System gives it oversight of compliance with employment, Social Security, risk prevention and employment law. Actions have three origins:

• Planned campaigns by sector or subject (working-time record, temporary hiring, part time, prevention, equality), with random visits.
• Complaints, often from a worker or former worker, which the Inspectorate does not disclose. Also through the Inspectorate’s mailbox, which accepts anonymous communications.
• Data cross-checks with the Social Security Treasury, the tax agency or the public employment service: part-time contracts with inconsistent hours, repeated terminations and registrations, absence of a pay register.

Whatever the origin, the documents it asks for and what it checks are the same.

The documents it asks for

The usual list in an SME, in the order they are usually requested:

1. Daily working-time record for the whole workforce for the period it indicates (usually the last few months), kept for four years and with traceability of corrections. It is the first thing and the one that produces most reports; we explain the penalties in penalties for failing to comply with time tracking.
2. Monthly overtime summary per worker and its reflection in payroll (article 35.5 of the Statute).
3. Employment contracts with their notifications to the public employment service and registrations with Social Security, including part-time ones with their hours distribution.
4. Payslips for the period and contribution documents.
5. Work calendar for the year, which must be displayed at the site.
6. Applicable collective agreement and, if any, company pacts or agreements.
7. Occupational risk prevention plan, risk assessment, planning, preventive arrangement, worker training and information, and health surveillance.
8. Pay register and, in companies with 50 or more, the registered equality plan with its pay audit.
9. Law 2/2023 whistleblowing channel in companies with 50 or more, and protocol against sexual and sex-based harassment in all.
10. Remote-work agreements and digital disconnection policy.
11. LGTBI measures and protocol in companies with more than 50.
12. Documentation of foreign workers where applicable, and of contractors and subcontractors present at the site.

The full map of obligations by size is in labour compliance for SMEs: 2026 guide.

How the visit goes

• Without prior notice, as a general rule: the inspector or sub-inspector may enter any workplace freely and without notice at any time, and must identify themselves. Entry may not be refused or the action obstructed; obstruction is an infringement in itself.
• Company presence: the inspector notifies the employer or their representative of their presence, unless they consider it would prejudice the action; the company may accompany them.
• Physical check: who is working, in which post, with what hours, and cross-check with contracts and the working-time record.
• Interviews: the inspector may question the workers present in private, without the company, about real hours, overtime, whether they clock in every day, whether they have been asked to sign or correct records. Their statements carry weight.
• Documentation requirement: what is not at the site is provided later, within the deadline set, usually electronically, or by appearing at the Inspectorate’s office.
• Record: the action is documented in an electronic record, which replaces the old visits book and is notified to the company.

The inspector may return, extend the action to other sites or subjects and prolong it for months, with a maximum duration set by law that is interrupted only for defined reasons.

Requirement or report: the difference that matters

The visit may end in three ways:

• No measures, if everything is in order.
• Requirement to remedy: the Inspectorate orders the breach to be corrected within a deadline, without penalty, and checks afterwards. It is frequent in formal matters (calendar not displayed, disconnection policy not drawn up, incomplete risk assessment) and when the company shows good faith and the ability to correct. Meeting it on time and with evidence closes the matter; ignoring it turns it into a report.
• Infringement report: a proposed penalty with the infringement classified, its grade and amount, under the Law on Infringements and Penalties in the Social Order. It may be accompanied by a settlement report for Social Security contributions and a requirement to pay salary differences.

It may also adopt precautionary measures, such as halting work due to serious and imminent risk.

Deadlines and how to respond

• Submissions against the infringement report: fifteen working days from notification, to the body handling the case; provide documentary evidence (records, payslips, contracts, communications), not just arguments.
• Decision by the competent body, which may confirm, reduce or annul the proposal; against it there is an appeal within one month and, afterwards, judicial review.
• Payment with reduction: in certain cases, acknowledging liability and voluntary payment reduce the penalty, with a waiver of appeal.
• Limitation: employment infringements are time-barred after three years; Social Security ones after four; prevention ones according to their seriousness.
• Requirements: comply within the deadline and report the remedy with evidence, without waiting for the Inspectorate to return.

Responding well is not arguing: it is providing the document that proves compliance or showing that it has been corrected.

How to prepare before it comes

1. A digital, reliable working-time record, with traceability, exportable instantly, that matches payroll and what workers will say.
2. Documented monthly close: overtime summarised and delivered with the payslip, paid or compensated within the deadline.
3. A complete file for each employee: contract, notification, registration, annexes, remote-work agreement, data-protection clause, delivery of the disconnection policy and harassment protocol, with signature.
4. Work calendar displayed at each site and published in the app.
5. Prevention up to date: plan, assessment, planning, training and health surveillance with dates.
6. Pay register for the last financial year and, where applicable, registered equality plan, published whistleblowing channel and approved LGTBI measures.
7. An inspection folder: the list of documents above with their location, to hand over in minutes, not weeks.
8. Brief training for managers and whoever receives the inspector: identification, accompaniment, no obstruction, no coaching staff, noting what is requested and the deadlines.
9. Quarterly review of a sample of working-time records to spot gaps before the Inspectorate does.
10. Employment adviser alerted from day one, for submissions and deadlines.

How LapsoWork makes it easier

Most of the list comes out of the system: time tracking exports the working-time record and the overtime summary in audited PDF and CSV with timestamping and traceability of corrections; the document manager keeps contracts, annexes, policies and protocols per employee with biometric signature of receipt; distributed payslips are archived and signed; and the leave and absence module publishes the work calendar per site and records each leave with its certificate. From €2 per employee per month.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Labour Inspectorate give notice before a visit?

As a general rule, no. The inspector may enter any workplace freely and without prior notice at any time, identifying themselves. Only in some cases does it summon the company in writing to appear with documentation at its offices.

Which documents does the Labour Inspectorate ask for in an SME?

Daily working-time record and overtime summary, contracts with their notifications and Social Security registrations, payslips and contribution documents, work calendar, agreement and pacts, prevention plan with assessment, training and health surveillance, pay register and, depending on size, equality plan, whistleblowing channel and LGTBI measures, plus remote-work agreements and the digital disconnection policy.

What is the difference between a requirement and an infringement report?

A requirement orders a breach to be corrected within a deadline without penalty, and is closed if met and proven; an infringement report proposes a penalty with the infringement classified, its grade and amount under the LISOS, and may be accompanied by a contribution settlement. Ignoring a requirement turns it into a report.

How long is there to make submissions against an infringement report?

Fifteen working days from notification, providing the documentary evidence that proves compliance or correction. Against the decision there is an appeal within one month and then judicial review.

Can the inspector talk to workers without the company?

Yes. The inspector may question the workers present in private about hours, overtime and the working-time record, and their statements carry weight in the action. The company may not prevent it or coach staff.

Conclusion

In an SME the Labour Inspectorate asks for a known list of documents, starting with the working-time record, talks to workers and compares what it sees with what the company has in writing. A requirement is closed by meeting it on time; a report is contested with evidence within fifteen working days. What decides the outcome is having that list ready before the visit, not after. To have the working-time record, signed documents and payslips come out of the system in five minutes, try LapsoWork free for 30 days.