{"id":34493,"date":"2026-06-10T11:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/?p=34493"},"modified":"2026-06-10T11:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T09:06:09","slug":"termination-of-domestic-workers-employment-contracts-grounds-requirements-and-key-considerations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/termination-of-domestic-workers-employment-contracts-grounds-requirements-and-key-considerations\/","title":{"rendered":"Termination of Domestic Workers&#8217; Employment Contracts: Grounds, Requirements and Key Considerations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The <strong>employment contract of a domestic worker<\/strong> may be terminated for a variety of reasons. However, employers must correctly identify the legal grounds for termination and comply with specific procedural requirements to avoid disputes or potential legal challenges.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The applicable framework is mainly set out in <strong>Royal Decree 1620\/2011<\/strong>, as amended by <strong>Royal Decree-Law 16\/2022<\/strong>, which strengthened employee protections within this special employment relationship.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>General Grounds for Termination<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">An employment contract may be terminated on any of the general grounds established in <strong>Article 49.1 of the Spanish Workers&#8217; Statute<\/strong>, including:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><strong>Agreement<\/strong> between the employer and the employee.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Voluntary resignation<\/strong> by the employee.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Expiry of a fixed-term contract<\/strong> provided there is a genuine temporary reason justifying its duration.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Disciplinary dismissal<\/strong> due to serious misconduct.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Retirement, incapacity or death of the employer<\/strong>, where legally applicable.<\/li>\n<li>Any other grounds provided for under general employment legislation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Specific Grounds Related to Household Employment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The regulations also allow termination for <strong>reasons connected to the needs of the household<\/strong>, provided these reasons are properly justified:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>A reduction in household income or an unexpected increase in household expenses.\n<ul>\n<li>For example, job loss or a significant drop in income.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A substantial change in the household&#8217;s needs.\n<ul>\n<li>For example, relocating to a new residence, admission of a dependent family member to a care facility, or the end of the need for caregiving services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A loss of trust based on objective and verifiable circumstances.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Any loss of trust must be supported by specific, reasonable and proportionate facts rather than a mere subjective perception.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Formal Requirements<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Where termination is based on one of the specific household-related grounds, employers must comply with the following requirements:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li>Provide <strong>written notice<\/strong> to the employee.<\/li>\n<li>Clearly state the <strong>specific reason for termination<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Pay <strong>compensation equivalent to 12 days&#8217; salary per year of service<\/strong>, up to a maximum of six months&#8217; salary.<\/li>\n<li>Observe the applicable notice period:\n<ul>\n<li>20 days if the employment relationship has lasted more than one year.<\/li>\n<li>7 days if it has lasted one year or less.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Alternatively, the employer may compensate the employee in lieu of notice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the notice period, full-time employees are entitled to six paid hours per week to search for new employment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Consequences of non-compliance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Failure to meet these requirements may have significant legal consequences:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><strong>If written notice is not provided or compensation is not paid<\/strong>, the termination may be presumed to constitute a dismissal, with the corresponding legal implications.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Failure to provide the required notice<\/strong> does not automatically convert the termination into a dismissal, but the employer must compensate the employee for the notice period not observed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>End of No-Fault Withdrawal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Following the 2022 reform, employers can no longer terminate a domestic worker&#8217;s contract through a unilateral <strong>no-fault withdrawal mechanism<\/strong>. Any termination must be based on legally recognized grounds or one of the general grounds established in employment legislation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Social Security Obligations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once the employment relationship has ended, the employer must notify Social Security and complete the employee&#8217;s deregistration within the applicable deadlines.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In all cases, contract termination must be handled carefully and in accordance with the applicable regulations to minimize the risk of disputes or legal challenges.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">For specific situations, <strong>addwill<\/strong>&#8216;s Labor Department can provide tailored advice to ensure the procedure is carried out correctly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; The employment contract of a domestic worker may be terminated for a variety of reasons. However, employers must correctly identify the legal grounds  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":34500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1034],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-laboral-en"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34493"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34497,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34493\/revisions\/34497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/addwill.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}