The Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat registered 592 labor infractions during the 2025 fiscal year in the municipality. The controls focused mainly on companies that operated with workers in an irregular administrative situation and with absences of registration in Social Security. The police and inspection action was carried out with intensity in streets and premises in the urban area, prioritizing surveillance in commercial establishments and workplaces scattered throughout the Catalan capital.
Target sectors and quantification of sanctions
The infraction reports are concentrated mainly in the hospitality sector, companies dedicated to renovations, supermarkets open twenty-four hours, and freight transport. Each opened file entails an average penalty of 8,500 euros. The total sum of economic penalties amounts to almost five million euros. These amounts reflect the seriousness of the omissions detected in compliance with current regulations.
Regularization and institutional collaboration framework
Beyond the fines, the inspections allowed for the registration in Social Security of 116 workers who remained outside the system. This figure arises directly from the collaboration protocol established between the Labor Inspectorate of Catalonia and the Guàrdia Urbana of Barcelona. The operational agreement facilitates the exchange of information and speeds up inspections in homes and workplaces where undeclared employment is suspected.
"Coordination demonstrates that the fight against precarious work is more effective when working together." - Raquel Gil, Deputy Mayor for Economic Promotion and Employment
"Boosting these types of collaborations is a strategic objective of the Catalan Labor Inspectorate, not only because of the good results they report, but because they broaden the detection of alleged irregularities." - Laura Freixas, Director General of the Labor Inspectorate of Catalonia
The agents continued their patrols and searches throughout the year to maintain pressure on the most vulnerable markets. The local administration will keep control mechanisms in place to ensure that contracting conditions comply with current legislation and protect the fundamental rights of the workforce.