Calculate your final settlement

What the final settlement includes

When your contract ends, the employer gives you a proposed settlement statement (documento de liquidación) with the amounts due to you (art. 49.2 ET). That is the final settlement, and it covers what you have already earned and not yet been paid:

• Your pay for the days worked in the last month (art. 26 ET).
• The holiday you have accrued and not taken (art. 38 ET).
• The accrued share of the extra payments (pagas extra), if they are not spread over your monthly payslips (art. 31 ET).
• Any days of notice the employer has not given, when the law requires notice.

If the contract ends with a right to severance pay, the settlement statement can include it too, but legally it is a separate amount from the final settlement, with its own rules and time limits. All the figures are gross, before withholdings and contributions.

Art. 49.2 ET

Final settlement and severance pay are not the same thing

You are entitled to the final settlement whenever the contract ends, including when you are the one leaving, because it is money you have already earned. Severance pay compensates for the end of the contract and depends on the reason.

A resignation does not give rise to severance pay (art. 49.1.d ET). Nor does a disciplinary dismissal declared fair (procedente) (art. 55.7 ET); if it is declared unfair (improcedente), it is calculated as an unfair dismissal.

Art. 49 · 55.7 ET

The final settlement by reason

Each reason has its own rules. We explain them with a worked example:

• Final settlement after resignation
• Unfair dismissal
• Final settlement after an objective-grounds dismissal
• Final settlement at the end of a fixed-term contract
• Signing the final settlement as «no conforme» (not agreed)

And unemployment benefit, with its own page: Calculate how much unemployment benefit you will receive.

Pay for the month you leave

This covers the days worked in the month the contract ends. A day can be worth your monthly pay divided by 30 (a commercial month) or by the number of days in that month (a calendar month). The review gives the range between the two calculations.

Example. Leaving on 15 October: 1.500 € × 15/30 = 750,00 €, or 1.500 € × 15/31 = 725,81 €.

Art. 26 ET

Untaken holiday

The minimum is thirty calendar days a year (art. 38.1 ET). The review takes them as 22 working days with a Monday-to-Friday week, 26 with a Monday-to-Saturday week and 30 × days / 7 with any other week: these are equivalences, not the text of the law. Your collective agreement or your contract can give more. Holiday accrues with each day worked, and the final settlement includes this year’s holiday that you have not taken. Many employers count it by months (2,5 days per month with 30 a year) rather than by days, and the review gives the range between the two calculations. Each day is paid at between your monthly pay / 30 and your annual pay / 365.

Example. Leaving on 15 October 2026: 288 days worked in the year. 30 × 288/365 = 23,67 days accrued. If you have taken 15, about 8,67 days remain: between (30 × 288/365 − 15) × 1.500 €/30 = 433,56 € and (30 × 288/365 − 15) × 21.000 €/365 = 498,89 €.

If you have taken more days than you have accrued, whether a deduction applies depends on the collective agreement.

Art. 38 ET

Extra payments

The law sets two extra payments (pagas extra) a year, and the collective agreement sets their amount and how they accrue. If they are spread over your monthly payslips, you have already been paid them month by month. If not, the final settlement includes the share accrued since their period began: half-yearly (January to June and July to December) or yearly (July to June for the summer one, January to December for the Christmas one). It can be counted by days or by months, and the review gives the range between the two calculations. If you leave in the month a payment is made (June or July for the summer one, December for the Christmas one), it may already be in that payslip.

Example. A Christmas extra payment of 1.500 € with a half-yearly period, leaving on 15 October: from 1 July to 15 October is 107 of 184 days. 1.500 € × 107/184 = 872,28 €.

Art. 31 ET

Severance pay by reason

It is counted in days’ pay. The daily pay is your annual pay, including the extra payments, divided by 365, as the CGPJ guide does. In the example, 21.000 € / 365 ≈ 57,53 €. The examples multiply by the exact figure, without rounding. In dismissals, the time worked is counted in months, and part of a month counts as a whole month. If you are dismissed during an ERTE (temporary lay-off scheme), it is calculated on your full pay from before the ERTE.

Unfair dismissal from 3 May 2018 to 20 July 2026: 98 whole months and a few days, which count as 99. 33 days per year is 2,75 per month: 99 × 2,75 = 272,25 days. 21.000 € × 272,25 / 365 = 15.663,70 €.

Objective-grounds dismissal with the same dates: 99 × 20/12 = 165 days. 21.000 € × 165 / 365 = 9.493,15 €.

End of a fixed-term contract lasting one year, from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026: 365 days × 12/365 = 12 days. 21.000 € × 12 / 365 = 690,41 €.

Art. 49 · 51 · 53 · 56 ET

If you started before 12 February 2012

In an unfair dismissal from a contract that began before 12 February 2012, the severance pay is calculated in two periods:

• Up to 11 February 2012: 45 days per year (3,75 per month).
• From 12 February 2012: 33 days per year (2,75 per month).

The total is capped at 720 days, unless the first period already goes beyond that. In that case only the first period counts, up to a maximum of 42 monthly payments (1.260 days).

Contracts to promote permanent employment (contratos de fomento de la contratación indefinida) signed before 12 February 2012 follow the rules they were signed under for objective-grounds severance pay; in a disciplinary dismissal, it is calculated with these two periods (section 3). The review does not tell that type of contract apart.

Example. From 1 March 2010 to 15 September 2026. First period: 24 months × 3,75 = 90 days. Second period: 176 months × 2,75 = 484 days. Total: 574 days. 21.000 € × 574 / 365 = 33.024,66 €.

Transitional provision 11.ª ET

How much the final settlement is by length of service

The final settlement is what has accrued in the year and in the last month, so once a contract has lasted a year it stops growing. Severance pay, on the other hand, grows with each month worked and depends on the reason.

Contracts ending on 30 September 2026, with 1.500 € gross a month, two extra payments of 1.500 € accruing half-yearly (the summer one already paid) and 22 working days of holiday a year, none of them taken. Rounded to the euro.

The final settlement adds up September’s pay, the holiday and the accrued Christmas extra payment, with the range between counting by days or by months. The other three columns are the severance pay for each reason, which is separate: art. 49.1.c ET at the end of a fixed-term contract, arts. 52 and 53.1.b ET in an objective-grounds dismissal and art. 56 ET in an unfair one. For the total, add it to the final settlement.

¹ A contract for production circumstances (circunstancias de la producción) lasts 6 months at most. It reaches a year only if your sector-level collective agreement extends it (art. 15.2 ET), or in a contract for a specific project or service (obra o servicio) signed before 31 December 2021 (transitional provision 3.ª of Real Decreto-ley 32/2021).

² A contract for production circumstances does not last that long. One for a specific project or service signed before 31 December 2021 lasted 3 years at most, or 4 if the sector-level collective agreement extended it (art. 15.1.a ET in its previous wording and transitional provision 3.ª of Real Decreto-ley 32/2021), so none ends in September 2026 with this length of service. A fixed-term contract that goes beyond its maximum length can become permanent (art. 15.4 ET), and then its end would be a dismissal.

Signing the final settlement as «no conforme» (not agreed)

The employer gives you a proposed settlement statement. The law provides that the worker can sign it in the presence of someone from the workers’ legal representatives.

Some people sign it with the words «recibí no conforme» (“received, not agreed”) when they do not agree with an amount. We mention it only as information. What to do in each case can be assessed by an employment law firm, a graduado social (a labour relations adviser) or a trade union.

What changes and what does not: Signing the final settlement as «no conforme» (not agreed).

Art. 49.2 ET

Time limits

For amounts such as outstanding pay, holiday, extra payments or severance pay at the end of a fixed-term contract, the time limit is one year (art. 59.1 ET). If the employer has not paid you yet, whatever is pay carries late-payment interest of 10 % a year (art. 29.3 ET); severance pay does not.

In a dismissal (objective-grounds, collective, unfair or disciplinary), the time limit to challenge it is 20 business days (art. 59.3 ET). People who disagree with the severance pay for a dismissal usually raise it through that same route, within those 20 days.

The time limit is short, and an employment law firm, a graduado social or a trade union can tell you which one applies to your case.

Art. 29.3 · 59 ET

What this review does not check

• Net pay: IRPF (income tax) withholdings and Social Security contributions.
• Bonuses, supplements, overtime and commissions under your collective agreement or your contract.
• Extra payments beyond the two ordinary ones.
• Whether the reason for the dismissal is justified, which is for a court to decide.
• Back pay for the dismissal proceedings (salarios de tramitación).
• Anything an ERE agreement adds on top of the legal minimum.

Holiday and extra payments are compared with the legal minimum, with the range between counting by days and counting by months; your collective agreement can improve on those figures. An item shows as “can't be checked” only when a detail is missing without which there is no legal figure, such as the notice period for a resignation or the holiday days you have taken.

And unemployment benefit

When a contract ends, as well as the final settlement there may be unemployment benefit (paro), the contributory unemployment benefit. To receive it, the contract has to end in a legal situation of unemployment, and that depends on the reason:

• An objective-grounds, collective, unfair or disciplinary dismissal is one (art. 267.1.a LGSS). A disciplinary dismissal also counts even if it is declared fair or is not challenged (art. 268.4 LGSS).
• The end of a fixed-term contract is too, unless you were the one who ended it (art. 267.1.a.6.º LGSS).
• A resignation is not (art. 267.2.a LGSS), unless you leave because of a relocation, a substantial change to your conditions that harms you (art. 41.3 ET), a serious breach by the employer, such as not paying you or paying you late again and again, or gender-based or sexual violence (art. 267.1.a.5.º LGSS).

You also need at least 360 days of unemployment contributions in the previous 6 years that you have not already used for another unemployment benefit, and several jobs can add up (arts. 266.b and 269 LGSS). You also need to be registered with the Seguridad Social or in an equivalent situation (situación asimilada), to register as a jobseeker, to sign the activity agreement (acuerdo de actividad) and not to have reached retirement age (art. 266 LGSS).

To calculate it with your details and see the full scale: Calculate how much unemployment benefit you will receive.

Arts. 266 · 267 · 268.4 LGSS

How much unemployment benefit is paid

The base is the average of your unemployment contributions over the last 180 days, without overtime (art. 270.1 LGSS). You receive 70 % of the base for the first 180 days and 60 % from day 181 (art. 270.2 LGSS).

Each month has a minimum and a maximum depending on your dependent sons or daughters (art. 270.3 LGSS). In 2026, with the IPREM (the public income reference index) at 600 €, they are:

• With no dependent sons or daughters, between 560 € and 1.225 € a month.
• With one, between 749 € and 1.400 €.
• With two or more, between 749 € and 1.575 €.

Example. With 21.000 € a year, the base is 21.000 € / 12 = 1.750 € a month. 70 % of that is 1.225 €, exactly the maximum with no dependent sons or daughters, and 60 % is 1.050 €.

These are gross figures. From them, 4,85 % of the base is deducted for the Seguridad Social, plus whatever IRPF (income tax) applies. The figures in this guide and in the review assume full-time work; with part-time hours they are lower.

Art. 270 LGSS

How long unemployment benefit lasts

It depends on the days of contributions in the last 6 years that have not been used for another unemployment benefit (art. 269 LGSS):

• From 360 to 539 days of contributions, 120 days of benefit (4 months).
• Each further 180 days of contributions adds 60 days of benefit (2 months). From 540 to 719 it is 180 days; from 720 to 899, 240; and so on.
• From 2.160 days of contributions, the maximum, 720 days (24 months).

Example. With three years of contributions, 1.095 days, it is 360 days of benefit (12 months).

Untaken holiday that has been paid also counts as days of contributions (art. 269.4 LGSS). Each start date, each leaving date and the days of contributions appear in your employment history report (informe de vida laboral, Seguridad Social online office).

Art. 269 LGSS

Time limit to apply for unemployment benefit

Without registering as a jobseeker there is no unemployment benefit (art. 266 LGSS): you register with your region’s employment service and apply to SEPE for the benefit. The application is made within the 15 days after the contract ends, business days according to SEPE. If your final settlement pays untaken holiday, the time limit runs from when those days end (art. 268.1 and 268.3 LGSS). Applying later takes the days of delay off the benefit (art. 268.2 LGSS).

• Ley General de la Seguridad Social, art. 267in force since 02-03-2023
• Ley General de la Seguridad Social, art. 268in force since 02-03-2023
• Ley General de la Seguridad Social, art. 269in force since 23-05-2024
• Ley General de la Seguridad Social, art. 270in force since 01-01-2023
• SEPE, cuantías anuales de las prestaciones por desempleowith effect from 01-01-2026

Art. 268 LGSS

Frequently asked questions