Labor Inspectors Find 207 False Interns at Catalan Culture Department
Spain's labor inspectorate says Catalonia's culture department used 207 interns as staff and seeks 2.16 million euros. Plus the department's response.
Spain’s labor inspectorate, the Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social (the state agency that polices employment law), has opened a case against the Generalitat (Catalan government) after concluding that its Departament de Cultura used 207 interns to do the work of regular staff. Social Security is claiming 2.16 million euros in unpaid contributions for the period from October 2024 to July 2026, according to elDiario.es, which first reported the case, and Catalan public broadcaster 3Cat.
The department disputes the findings and has appealed. While the appeals are pending it has frozen its internship program, including the call for 2026/2027. Reports differ on how final that is: elDiario.es says the Generalitat decided on Oct. 29 to end the program, while the department describes it as paused.
What the inspectors found
The case covers two intake rounds, 2024/2025 and 2025/2026. The interns received a monthly grant and usually worked fixed hours from 8:00 to 15:00. elDiario.es notes that the pay fell below the minimum wage once the missing extra payments in a Spanish salary are counted, while 3Cat describes it as slightly above the 2026 minimum but spread over fewer payments. They had no worker status with Social Security, no paid holidays and no right to strike, and had to make up hours missed without a medical note.
According to the inspection report seen by elDiario.es, the interns were placed in archives, museums, the Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya (the region’s conservation center), the Servei d’Inventari del Patrimoni Cultural (the heritage inventory service), language policy and communications. Some were given routine jobs such as removing staples, scanning or packing bundles of 100 stickers. Two of them numbered thousands of files stored in 267 boxes. Others trained incoming administrative staff, drafted a speech for a chief of staff or handled files on protected heritage.
Inspectors found almost no training content, tutors who sometimes existed only on paper and monthly follow-up reports that were nearly identical. Applicants had to have graduated less than five years earlier, the placements lasted 10 months, and selection rewarded grades and languages rather than difficulty finding work. The department had no agreement with the public employment service, which state rules on non-employment internships require.
The Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (Spain’s social security treasury) has already ruled on its own initiative that the interns should be removed from the scheme as trainees and registered as employees. The 2.16 million euros is based on what contributions would have been at the salary of a senior technician, plus a 20% surcharge for late payment, elDiario.es reported.
How the complaint started
The union IAC-CATAC took the complaint of several interns to the inspectorate in July 2025, according to 3Cat. Earlier, more than 60% of the interns had signed a letter asking the department to turn the grants into training contracts with unemployment benefits and holidays. Department managers told them everything was in order, the interns said. Assumpta Barbens, the union’s organization secretary, told 3Cat that some interns were carrying responsibilities alone, citing an IT intern who acted as if he were the person in charge.
Cultura’s defense
The department says the grants have an essentially training purpose and meet the legal rules for internships, with none of the features of an employment relationship. It has filed objections with the inspectorate and an appeal against the Social Security claim, and says the findings are not final until those are resolved. It also says it has not yet been given full access to the case file.
Josep Maria Carreté, the department’s secretary general, said on Thursday that he was confident the law had been followed. He cited a 2023 ruling by the Tribunal Superior de Justícia de Catalunya (the region’s high court) in favor of the department over a similar complaint, and said more than a thousand people had gone through the program since 2012 without significant complaints. The program is run by the Oficina de Suport a la Iniciativa Cultural (OSIC), a department office, though 3Cat says the department ran it directly before then.
What it means for the department’s budget
An internal government estimate puts the cost of treating all the interns as employees at 9.8 million euros, according to 3Cat, or more than 9.7 million euros, according to elDiario.es. Both outlets say that would raise the department’s staff budget by 25%. The Generalitat says it will defend its position through administrative channels and, if needed, in court.
Sources: Ara, 3Cat 324, elDiario.es
