Labour and data protection legislation prohibits companies from requiring their employees to use their personal phones for tasks such as clocking in or receiving codes. Fines can reach up to 80,000 euros.
The Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD) and Spanish labour regulations set clear limits on the use of workers' personal devices. According to pymesyautonomos.com, forcing an employee to use their personal mobile phone for work can lead to fines of up to 80,000 euros for freelancers and SMEs.
The 20 bis article of the Workers' Statute recognises the right to privacy in the digital environment, to disconnection, and against the use of geolocation systems. Additionally, articles 87 and 90 of the Organic Law 3/2018 on Personal Data Protection regulate privacy in the use of digital devices and require prior, clear, and unequivocal information to the worker when geolocation systems are used.
For those working remotely, article 17.2 of the Law 10/2021 on remote work is more explicit: the company cannot require the installation of programs or applications on devices owned by the employee nor force them to use those devices to perform their work.
“There is no general obligation for an employee to provide their personal phone number or email address to the company,” states the AEPD.
The general principle is that it is the employer's responsibility to provide the necessary means to carry out professional activities. This does not imply that any worker automatically has the right to a company smartphone, but rather that the business must analyse what tools are truly required for each position. If the characteristics of the position require being reachable, one solution is to provide a corporate device.
Time registration is another of the most common examples. Companies are required to ensure the daily registration of working hours, but this requirement does not mean they can transfer the obligation to install an application on their phone to the employee. A similar situation occurs with two-factor authentication codes: if the procedure systematically turns the worker's private number and device into necessary elements to access professional tools, the business must review how it is implementing the system.
It is not comparable to occasionally send a communication to a worker than to require them to maintain corporate applications, receive permanent instructions via WhatsApp, or use their personal phone daily to clock in. Freelancers and SMEs must review their protocols to avoid fines that can reach 80,000 euros.
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