What Spanish employers can and cannot monitor when you telework

Employment lawyer José Plaza has set out the limits on monitoring remote workers in Spain, under Ley 10/2021 and article 20.3 of the Workers’ Statute. Geolocation is lawful at the point of clocking in and out, but continuous tracking through the working day is not. Any monitoring measure has to satisfy three tests at once: suitable for its purpose, necessary in the sense that no less intrusive method would work, and proportionate to the aim. Around 3.3 million people in Spain now work remotely at least some of the time, according to INE.

Why this matters. Monitoring software is usually introduced without anyone being told what it collects, and most remote workers have no idea where the legal line sits. In Spain it is drawn fairly clearly: your employer can confirm when you start and finish, and can require a written remote-work agreement naming your work location and the supervision methods used. It cannot track you continuously through the day, monitor you outside working hours, or introduce a system you were not told about in advance.

The right to digital disconnection under Ley 10/2021 covers the hours outside work. Monitoring that continues after the working day is unlawful regardless of whether the three tests are satisfied during it.

What to watch. Anyone teleworking more than 30% of their hours should have a signed remote-work agreement naming the monitoring methods used. If yours does not name them, that is the document to ask about. This is general information rather than advice on any individual contract.