Camp Nou Renovation Firms Face €1.87 Million Fines Over Excessive Hours, Undocumented Workers

Contracting companies involved in the reconstruction of FC Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium face fines totaling €1.87 million due to repeated labor law violations, as reported by the Spanish newspaper El Periódico.

Since renovation work began in June 2023, authorities have opened 218 investigation files, uncovering a series of violations. These include excessive working hours, unpaid wages, the employment of undocumented foreign workers, and insufficient application of occupational safety measures. A total of 1,516 employees working for 77 companies under the main contractor, Limak, have been affected by these infractions.

According to authorities, seven out of ten investigations concluded with recommendations or sanctions, including 129 official decisions imposing financial penalties totaling approximately €441,000, in addition to €1.43 million in requests for corrective actions for the violations.

Investigations revealed repeated violations, particularly against foreign workers, including cases of Romanian and Palestinian workers being dismissed after demanding their rights. The CCOO trade union also organized protests against the dismissal of undocumented Turkish workers. Authorities have been investigating these violations since September 2025, with potential fines reaching €10,000 per worker.

Despite these violations, the project has recorded 340 occupational accidents since the start of the renovation work, most of which were minor. Only one serious accident has occurred in the past two years. This indicates a relative commitment to safety standards, despite the recurring labor violations.

The escalation of these violations highlights the pressures and risks faced by workers in Catalonia's largest construction projects. It places the main contractor, Limak, under legal and ethical responsibility to ensure all sub-contracting companies adhere to laws and standards.

The types of violations identified include excessive working hours, with employees often working more than 10 hours daily, five to six days a week. Furthermore, 16,000 overtime hours were reportedly unpaid, uncompensated, or unregistered. Wages were also found to be below the legal minimum, particularly for some foreign workers.

The employment of undocumented foreign workers, including Romanian and Palestinian nationals residing illegally in Spain, was another key violation. While the majority of conditions were met, there were also occasional breaches in the application of health and safety laws.