Fogasa – What Does It Stand For And Why Should All Employees Know About It?

FOGASA is the Fondo de Garantía Salarial, the Salary Guarantee Fund, an autonomous organism in Spain that takes care of the payment of debts from employers towards employees when they cannot themselves, because of declared insolvency or when the company is in the process of bankruptcy.

Employers pay towards this fund, 0,2% of the wages of all employees.

If you are not being paid your wages, or redundancy fee because of the above mentioned reasons, you can file a claim with FOGASA. They must respond within 3 months, if not, your claim will be considered as approved (silencio administrativo positivo) even if after a longer period of time, they would respond, denying your claim. But you will have to take action to ´claim your claim´ if they have not responded after 3 months. You would have to file a ´demanda de reclamación de cantidad laboral´ against FOGASA in this case, before the social court. This process is explained in THIS INFO DOC from the Library on the website.

The rights that employees can demand, according to this ´silencio administrativo positivo´ have been confirmed in 2 rulings by the Supreme Courts in Madrid and Valencia, the latter only this month.

Court cases were filed because FOGASA is notoriously late with responding to claims, in some areas it can take up to a year. It is expected that an avalanche of ´demandas´ will follow this second ruling by the Tribunal Supremo.

Update 23.3.2017 Per 1.5.2017 a new ´modelo´ will come into force that has to be used to file your claim. Either online, through the Fogasa website, or in person. For a complete guide, you can download a ´manual´ at the bottom of the page.
An example of the form to use

HERE

Note: FOGASA pay-outs have limitations both with regards to maximum wages/day with regards to indemnization. Basically, they pay out to a maximum of double minimum wage, for 2018 that is 57,23 euros/day.

More info

HERE

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Please note: The information provided is based upon our understanding of current legislation. It is not legal advice but is provided freely to enable you to be properly informed. We recommend that if you are considering taking action, you should seek professional advice.