Final pay for a domestic worker when the employer retires (2026)
If the employer retires, the worker is owed the settlement plus severance: 12 days' salary per year capped at six months' pay through the justified-cause route, or one month's salary under the Workers' Statute. Compare both figures here.
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THE ESSENTIALS
What is paid when the employer retires
The employer's retirement can end the relationship by two routes, and the figure depends on which one applies. The Workers' Statute (art. 49.1.g) provides for termination on the employer's retirement with an amount equal to one month's salary, but it is designed for a business owner. In a private household the usual route is termination for justified cause under RD 1620/2011 art. 11.2, and that is how this tool calculates it: 12 days' salary per year of service, capped at six months' pay.
Below two and a half years of service the month's salary under the Workers' Statute is higher; above it, the 12 days per year are. The calculator applies art. 11.2 and flags the alternative: case law is scattered, so compare both figures before signing.
Under art. 11.2, the termination is notified in writing stating the cause — for example, a drop in the household's income or a substantial change in its needs — and the severance is made available at the same moment; without the written notice or the severance it is presumed a dismissal. Notice is 20 calendar days if the employment has lasted over a year and 7 otherwise, replaceable by its salary. The worker can claim unemployment benefit.
FREE CALCULATOR
Work out what you have to pay when it ends
The reason for the termination drives everything: severance, notice and the paperwork you must hand over. Enter the dates and the salary and we'll give you the breakdown and the documents.
Who is calculating?
The result is framed as what you must pay and the paperwork that is on you.
2026 figures from the BOE
What you have to pay
Breakdown of the final settlement by item, with the gross amount of each
Item
Amount
September salary (30 days)30 days × €47.48/day
€1,424.50
Untaken holidays (22.44 days)22.44 days × €47.48/day
€1,065.53
Severance for justified cause (12 days/year: 37 days)37 days × €46.83/day
€1,732.71
Total to pay (gross)€4,222.74
Gross amounts. The worker's contribution is deducted from the salary items (salary, extra pay, holiday and notice): 6.40% on an indefinite contract and 6.45% on a temporary one. Severance does not contribute.
Statutory severance is also exempt from income tax up to €180,000 (art. 7.e of the Income Tax Act).
How the severance is worked out
This is the amount you must make available to the worker.
Length of service counted
3 years and 1 month
Days of salary payable
37 days
Daily reference salary
€46.83/day
Severance
€1,732.71
Holiday
Accrued this year
22.44 days
Already taken
0 days
Still outstanding
22.44 days
Paid in the settlement
€1,065.53
Notice period
Days required
20 days
Days given
20 days
Days not respected
0 days
Paid in the settlement
€0.00
The notice period is covered: no extra days to pay.
The link only carries the calculation figures: no names, ID numbers or address.
What to do now
The steps that are on you, with their deadlines.
Hand over the notice in writing, stating the cause clearly and unequivocally.
Make the severance available at the very moment you hand over the letter, not afterwards.
If that written notice is missing, or the severance is not made available at the same moment, the termination is presumed to be a dismissal (RD 1620/2011 art. 11.3).
File the Social Security deregistration within 6 calendar days of the effective date.
This termination gives access to unemployment benefit: the worker has 15 working days to claim it at the SEPE, with 360 days contributed in the last 6 years.
The settlement pays untaken holiday: record that period in the employer's certificate (certificado de empresa). If the worker is entitled to unemployment benefit, it starts when that period ends, and her 15 working days to claim count from then (LGSS art. 268.3).
Get the settlement receipt signed in duplicate. If the worker signs 'no conforme', the payment stands and she keeps the right to claim the amounts for one year (ET art. 59.2); if she also challenges a dismissal, that deadline is 20 working days (ET art. 59.3).
Warnings about your figures
The employer's retirement is treated as termination for justified cause (12 days per year, capped at 6 months' pay, 20/7 days' notice). If the retirement ends the employer's activity as such, ET art. 49.1.g allows one month's salary instead: seek advice.
Small print worth reading
Termination for justified cause must be notified in writing, stating the cause, with the severance made available at the same time; without the written notice or the severance it is presumed a dismissal (RD 1620/2011 arts. 11.2 and 11.3).
20 calendar days' notice, the figure for an employment that has lasted over a year, replaceable by its salary; during the notice period, if the worker is employed full time, 6 paid hours a week to look for work (RD 1620/2011 art. 11.2).
The worker's contributions (6.40% indefinite / 6.45% temporary) are deducted from the salary items (salary, extra payments, holidays, notice), not from the severance.
Statutory severance is exempt from income tax up to €180,000 (art. 7.e of the Income Tax Act); the rest of the settlement is employment income, though a private employer does not withhold.
Untaken holidays paid on termination are contributed separately, as additional registration days (LGSS art. 147.1).
Notify the TGSS of the termination within 6 calendar days (RD 643/2026).
Unemployment benefit: requires 360 contributed days in the previous 6 years. As the settlement pays untaken holiday, the legal unemployment situation starts when that period ends, which must appear in the employer's certificate, and the claim at the SEPE is due within 15 working days from then. A late claim is not lost: the benefit runs from the claim date and the days of delay are deducted (LGSS arts. 266–270).
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Indicative result with the figures in force in 2026 (RD 126/2026, RD 1620/2011, Workers' Statute). It is not professional advice. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
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This is the wording behind the calculator's figure: what is paid, with what notice and which deadlines apply.
Employer's retirement
12 days per year · capped at 6 months' pay
The employer retires and no longer needs (or can sustain) help at home.
Calculated like justified cause: 12 days per year capped at six months' pay, with the same notice. If the retirement ends the employer's activity as such, the Workers' Statute allows one month's salary instead: below two and a half years of service that month's salary is higher, so compare both figures before signing.
ET art. 49.1.g provides for termination on the employer's retirement with severance of one month's salary, but it is designed for a business owner. In a private household the usual route is termination for justified cause under RD 1620/2011 art. 11.2 — 12 days per year, capped at six months' pay, 20 or 7 days' notice. The two figures cross at 30 months: 12 days per year match one month's salary (30 days) at exactly two and a half years of service, so below two and a half years the month's salary under the Workers' Statute is HIGHER and above it the 12 days per year are. This calculator applies the art. 11.2 criterion and flags the alternative; case law is scattered, so compare both figures before signing.
It depends on the route. Under termination for justified cause (RD 1620/2011 art. 11.2), which is what this calculator applies, it is 12 days' salary per year of service capped at six months' pay. The Workers' Statute (art. 49.1.g) provides one month's salary for the employer's retirement. Below two and a half years of service the month's salary is higher, and above it the 12 days per year are: compare both figures before signing.
Does the worker have to be given notice?
Under art. 11.2, yes: 20 calendar days if the employment has lasted over a year and 7 days otherwise, counted from the day the decision is notified. It can be replaced by the salary for those days, and not giving it does not turn the termination into a dismissal: it means paying those days (RD 1620/2011 art. 11.3). During the notice period, if she works full time, the worker has 6 paid hours a week to look for work.
What if the letter or the severance is missing?
If there is no written notice or the severance is not made available at the same moment, the employer is presumed to have opted for the dismissal rules of the Workers' Statute (RD 1620/2011 art. 11.3); if that dismissal is declared unfair, severance rises to 33 days per year capped at 24 months' pay. An excusable error in calculating the severance does not trigger the presumption, but the correct amount must be paid.
Can the worker claim unemployment benefit if the employer retires?
Yes. Both the retirement of an individual employer that ends the contract and termination for justified cause under art. 11.2 are legal unemployment situations (LGSS art. 267.1.a, points 2 and 8). She needs at least 360 days contributed in the previous six years and has 15 working days to claim the benefit at the SEPE, counted from the termination or, if the settlement pays untaken holiday, from the end of that holiday period (LGSS art. 268.3).
