If your company has not paid the payroll in a timely manner you could have the right to charge 10% more salary. This has been recognized by the Supreme Court, which in a recent sentence confirmed that the company had paid the salary to a group of 33 doctors in Barcelona during their vacation, not including guards or bonuses of holidays, as explained by the labor lawyer, Óscar Ramón.
It all started when by calculating the money they owed after their days off they saw that they had not paid the part of the salary corresponding to the extra hours, as well as the pluses for working holidays. This is considered a foul in payroll by date and form, which has caused the company to compensate for affected workers with 10% more salary.
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The decision is endorsed by article 29.3 of the Workers’ Statute (it can be consulted in the BOE), which says clearly that “the interest in default in the payment of the salary will be ten percent of what was owed.” That is, if an employer delays the payment of a salary or part of it, the worker can require an additional 10% on the amount paid with delay, in concept of interest in default. This interest is compensated (compensates for the worker for the damage of not having promptly received his money) and is not a disciplinary sanction to the employer.
The High Court ordered more than 180,000 euros to pay for poorly paid salaries, plus 10% extra as a penalty for the delay in payment, which is almost 90,000 additional euros. In practice, each one will enter almost 8,300 euros.
How and why this sentence affects you
The supreme has set several criteria that can be extrapolated to any worker. The lawyer Óscar Ramón summarizes it like this:
- The extra 10% for delay in the payment of the salary is always applied, even if the company considers that the case is complex or has legal doubts. There are no excuses.
- Only that surcharge can be avoided in very specific cases, for example:
- If there are laws for limiting public spending that stop payments.
- If a norm is annulled by the Constitutional and it is decided that its past effects do not apply at all.
Mora interest
The Supreme Court bases its resolution on the interest in default of article 29.3 of the Workers’ Statute, which literally establishes that, “interest in default in the payment of the salary will be ten percent of what was owed.”
That is, an employee can demand that extra percentage if they are paid late. The supreme ratifies this criterion again.
Therefore, if your company does not properly pay you all that is due – for example, parts of the salary linked to vacations, guards or pluses by holidays – the law is placed on the worker’s side for the sake of “protecting the value of the salary as a fundamental right,” they explain from Rey & Peña Lawyers.
It does not matter that the company alleges doubts or complexity of the case: interest is applied without exception, except in very special situations.
The objective is simple but key: guarantee that the salary, the basis of the sustenance of any person, is respected.
Eye to the small print: how to request Mora’s interest
When the company is delayed to pay you what corresponds to you, that 10% extra automatically will not enter you. It will be necessary to claim and that a judge supports it.
In addition, that percentage only applies to the salary, not to compensation or to other payments that are not strictly salary remuneration.
How to calculate 10% Mora’s interest?
The period to compute goes from the date on which the payment had to be made until the date of the sentence.
The portal labor issues illustrates it with this example:
- If 3,000 euros corresponding to two salaries of 1,500 euros (June and July 2024) and a sentence of May 17, 2025 recognize interest, the calculation would be:
- For the June salary: from July 1 to May 17, 131.94 euros (about 12.49 euros per month) are.
- For the salary of July: from August 1 to May 17, 119.44 euros are.
- Total interest: 251.38 euros.
In addition, the interests of the judicial process according to article 576 of the Civil Procedure Law could also be requested.