Am I falsely self-employed or a TRADE?

A false freelancer is someone registered as self-employed who invoices a client but in practice works like an employee. Spain's Workers' Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores, ET) applies to anyone who provides paid services "for another and within the organisation and direction" of another person or company (art. 1.1), and presumes an employment contract exists between whoever provides such a service and whoever receives it in exchange for pay (art. 8.1).

That's why judges talk about two features: dependence (working inside the other party's organisation and under its direction) and ajenidad, working for another's benefit (the output, the risk and the business decisions belong to the other party). If both are present, the relationship is employment even if the contract says "services", "collaboration" or "commercial agreement".

There's no closed list and no single decisive sign. In the Glovo riders judgment (STS 805/2020 of 25 September, by the full Employment Chamber), the Supreme Court reviews the ones used: working where and when the client says, doing it personally, being part of its organisation, having no organisation of your own, the client deciding prices and market conditions, being paid a fixed or periodic amount and bearing no business risk.

The test on this page turns those signs into 12 one-click questions and tells you how many point to employment. If half or more do, the light turns red; between 3 and 5, it's a grey area (unless you fit as a TRADE). It's guidance: a judge weighs all the circumstances, and the same answer can carry more or less weight depending on the case.

Yes. Having one client, or one that provides almost all your income, doesn't on its own make you falsely self-employed: what matters is how you work. If you organise your work, set your price, use your own equipment and bear the risk, you are self-employed even if you only invoice one company.

What does change is your status: if that client gives you at least 75% of your income and you meet the other requirements, you are an economically dependent self-employed worker (TRADE), with specific rights.

A TRADE (trabajador autónomo económicamente dependiente) is a freelancer who works habitually, personally, directly and predominantly for one client from whom they receive at least 75% of their income from work and business or professional activities (art. 11.1 of Law 20/2007, the Self-Employment Statute, LETA). All your business income counts towards that percentage, as does any income you have as an employee (art. 2 of Royal Decree 197/2009).

They must also meet five conditions at the same time (art. 11.2 LETA): no employees and no subcontracting of the activity (with work–life balance exceptions that allow hiring one person); not working alongside the client's staff without distinction; having their own infrastructure and equipment where relevant; organising the work by their own criteria, even if they receive technical instructions; and being paid according to results, bearing the risk of the activity.

People who run premises or offices open to the public, or who practise their profession with others in a firm, can't be a TRADE (art. 11.3 LETA). And you can only be a TRADE for one client (art. 12.2 LETA).

A TRADE's contract must be in writing and state that status. The freelancer registers it with the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) within 10 working days of signing and tells the client; if 15 working days pass without that notice, the client must register it (art. 12 LETA and art. 6 RD 197/2009). If there's no written contract or no fixed term, it is presumed open-ended.

A TRADE is entitled to at least 18 working days a year of break from work (art. 14 LETA). If the client ends the contract without just cause, it must compensate them for the loss: the amount in the contract or the professional-interest agreement or, failing that, taking into account the time left, the seriousness of the breach, the investments made and the notice given (art. 15 LETA). Disputes are heard by the employment courts (art. 17 LETA).

Since 2021, the Workers' Statute presumes that delivering products or goods for a company that organises, directs and controls the work through algorithmic management on a digital platform is employment (additional provision 23, added by Law 12/2021). If you deliver with an app that assigns you orders, it's the platform that has to prove you're not an employee.

The presumption came after the Supreme Court judgment declaring the relationship between a rider and Glovo to be employment (STS 805/2020), which rejected the idea that the platform was a mere intermediary.

First, gather evidence of how you actually work: emails and messages with instructions, rotas or schedules, the company email or badge, identical invoices, holiday requests. Then talk to an employment lawyer or a trade union, who will tell you whether to ask the employment court to recognise the employment relationship.

You can also turn to the Labour Inspectorate. Its labour-fraud mailbox doesn't ask for your details and has a box for "falsos autónomos", but it isn't a formal complaint: anonymous complaints aren't processed, although the Inspectorate can use the information to plan its inspections (art. 20 of Law 23/2015). A formal complaint requires you to identify yourself, and inspectors must treat who filed it as confidential (art. 10.1).

Mind the deadlines. If the client ends the relationship and it was employment, it may be a dismissal, and you have only 20 working days from the date it happens to challenge it (art. 59.3 ET and art. 103 LRJS); filing the conciliation request stops the clock. Money owed to you (salary, holidays) can be claimed within one year (art. 59 ET).

If the Labour Inspectorate concludes that a contractor is really an employee, Social Security can register them ex officio (art. 16.4 LGSS) and claim contributions for the last four years (art. 24 LGSS) with a surcharge (art. 30 LGSS). Failing to register a worker is a serious offence, one per worker affected (art. 22.2 LISOS). And ending the relationship may be a dismissal.

Renaming the contract doesn't help, because reality counts. If in practice they work like an employee, there are two ways out: give them real independence (let them organise their work, use their own equipment, set their price and work for others) or hire them. If they are genuinely self-employed and depend on you for 75% or more of their income, put a TRADE contract in writing.