Inspection on the shop floor: the visit starts in your unit and ends at the subcontractor
Nextica Law & Tax supports industrial companies during Labour and Social Security Inspectorate action, focused where it concentrates in a plant: contracting and subcontracting of the company's own activity and the joint liability of art. 42 of the Workers' Statute, coordination of business activities and who answers for training and protective equipment, the status of staff supplied by temporary work agencies, and the file that opens afterwards — submissions against the report, the proposed penalty and the contributions assessment.
In a plant, an inspection almost never ends where it started: it comes in through your unit and finishes asking about the subcontractor.
What's included
1. A prior audit of the subcontracting chain
what has been subcontracted, whether it is the company's own activity, and who controls cascading subcontracting.
2. Periodic, documented checks that each contractor is up to date, with that check filed and not just habitually requested.
3. Reviewing coordination of business activities
information provided, instructions, compliance monitoring and the record of access to the plant.
4. Preparing the first-visit documentation
contracts, contribution records, working-time records by shift, prevention plan and training per person.
5. Reviewing the status of agency staff and their roles, which in a plant carry their own limits.
6. Attendance during the inspection, with a single point of contact and documents handed over in an orderly way.
7. Submissions against the infringement report and the contributions assessment, and a plan to correct whatever the inspection exposes.
THE VISIT COMES IN THROUGH YOUR UNIT AND ENDS AT THE SUBCONTRACTOR
In a plant the inspection almost never ends where it started, and the principal employer answers for things it did not do.
Joint liability for the contractor's wage and social security obligations where the subcontract covers the company's own activity. The defence is preventive and documentary: check before engaging and periodically, and keep that check.
art. 42 Workers' StatuteUncontrolled cascading subcontracting
each link adds a contact point, and the principal answers even without knowing the last party in the chain. Ordering the chain by contract is the only control that works.
art. 42 Workers' StatuteCoordination of activities with no record
as site holder you have your own duties of information, instructions and monitoring compliance, penalised regardless of the worker not being yours. What is examined is what was done beforehand, and that can only be shown with records.
art. 24 of Law 31/1995 on the Prevention of Occupational RisksLABOR SANCTION TABLE — LISOS 2026
Law of Offenses and Sanctions in the Social Order (LISOS), Royal Legislative Decree 5/2000. Updated amounts 2026.
| Degree | Minimum | Medium | Maximum | Frequent violations in inspections |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light | 60 € | 185 € | 625 € | Minor formal defects in contracts or communications |
| Serious | 750 € | 4,005 € | 7,500 € | Without workday record · incorrect contracts · lack of registration in SS · breach of agreement |
| Very serious | €7,501 | 40.985 € | €225,018 | Without mandatory Equality Plan · illegal transfer of workers · violation of fundamental rights |
Light
Serious
Very serious
Frequently asked questions
Am I liable for my subcontractor's employment debts?
Where the subcontract covers the company's own activity, art. 42 of the Workers' Statute makes the principal employer jointly liable for the wage and social security obligations the contractor incurs during the subcontract, with the scope and time limits the provision itself sets. The defence is preventive and documentary: check before engaging and then periodically that the contractor is up to date, keep that check, and organise the chain so there is no cascading subcontracting nobody controls.
If a subcontractor's worker has an accident in my plant, does it affect me?
Yes, in two different ways. The first is coordination of business activities: as the site holder and as principal employer you have your own duties of information, instructions and monitoring compliance, and breaching them is penalised regardless of the worker not being yours. The second is that this breach is, in practice, what later supports the proposed benefit surcharge and the civil claims. What is examined is what was done before the accident, and that can only be shown with records.
Cases we have worked on
- industria
Reestructuración de un grupo familiar sin conflicto
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