German Real Estate Agency Engel & Volkers Faces €16m Fine In Barcelona

German luxury existent property elephantine Engel & Volkers has been ordered to salary a good of €16 cardinal to Spain’s Social Security strategy aft labour inspectors uncovered nan fraudulent usage of “false self-employed” contracts for astir 400 income agents successful Barcelona. 

The tribunal ruling exposes a cost-saving strategy that is akin to violations successful Valencia and brings to ray intensified scrutiny of gig-economy practices successful high-end spot sales.

German authorities besides recovered employment irregularities astatine Engel & Volkers

Government authorities recovered that nan institution systematically disguised labor arsenic independent contractors to dodge paying societal information contributions. Officially, Engel & Volkers outsourced income to outer firms, but inspectors recovered that nan company’s guidance dictated income territories, group commissions, and controlled moving conditions, each hallmarks of accepted employment. The contractual model, erstwhile communal successful nan sector, has since been abandoned by astir owed to mounting penalties.

A institution spokesperson confirmed nan €16 cardinal request to El Periodico newspaper, saying it is nether administrative entreaty and could escalate nan condemnation to nan tribunal appeals. “We are committed to defending our rights,” they said. It’s not nan firm’s first brushwood pinch nan regulators:In Valencia, a €6.4 cardinal declare was upheld by nan location High Court of Justice (TSJ), pinch nan lawsuit now pending earlier Spain’s Supreme Court. Combined pinch different section regularisations, nan full could now transcend €22 cardinal successful backmost payments.

German existent property patient Engel & Volkers successful aforesaid vessel arsenic Glovo

Engel & Volkers insists nan pre-2019 exemplary was ineligible and validated by anterior inspections and that its 2024 move to salaried agents was intended to “professionalise” nan workforce and not respond to investigations. Agents now bask general contracts, but nan modulation reveals a sector-wide reckoning.

The ungraded mirrors gig-economy controversies involving transportation apps for illustration Glovo and Uber, wherever “riders” are mislabeled arsenic freelancers to evade taxes while earning perchance higher commissions than nether corporate bargaining agreements. In Barcelona, immoderate agents person challenged nan inspection, preferring self-employed position for bigger payouts, a stance rejected successful Valencia’s tribunal ruling, which affirmed nan “falso-autónomo” violations.

Internationally, nan rumor still continues: successful June, German prosecutors raided nan firm’s Braunschweig offices complete suspected societal information fraud, arsenic reported by Manager Magazin.

Such practices were rampant successful Spain’s 20,000-agency, 100,000-worker existent property industry, according to nan Fadei association, but regulatory crackdowns are forcing inevitable changes successful practices and attitudes.