After two years of waiting, the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council has processed the payment of 2.39 million euros to 410 public employees for unpaid overtime. The resolutions, signed on February 17th, authorize the expenditure for work performed outside of regular working hours.
The total debt of 2.39 million euros includes 2.21 million for municipal workers and approximately 173,000 euros in Social Security contributions. The beneficiaries are 26 civil servants, 57 contract employees, 229 officers from the Local Police and Mobility Agents, and 108 professionals from the Fire and Rescue Service (SEIS).
The largest portion of the debt, around 1.5 million euros (68% of the total), is owed to firefighters, who had been waiting for this payment for two years. The overtime hours for SEIS agents are distributed between 2024 (606,892.79 euros) and 2025 (888,109.08 euros). In total, firefighters accumulated 55,015.98 overtime hours during this period, with 59% during daytime and 41% during night/holiday shifts.
Within the fire department, 27 workers were owed more than 20,000 euros. One case stands out with a debt of 61,644.3 euros for overtime, resulting in a final disbursement of 62,722.78 euros including Social Security contributions. At the other end, one firefighter was owed only 25.36 euros.
The Local Police of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria performed significantly fewer overtime hours, totaling 19,666.25 hours to be paid. The disbursement for this force amounts to 588,049.60 euros, considerably less than for the firefighters. 58% of these hours were during daytime and 42% during night/holiday shifts.
The debt for the Local Police was concentrated mainly in 2025 (430,131.34 euros) compared to 2024 (157,918.26 euros). This is attributed to the labor conflict that led many officers to refuse extra work in 2024. Approximately 229 officers, about 38% of the force, accumulated overtime hours between 2024 and 2025.
Civil servants and contract employees represent the categories with the least impact on the debt for activities outside regular hours. The City Council owed 1,828.73 euros from 2023 to these groups. The total recognized debt for civil servants and contract employees between 2023 and 2025 is 130,741.76 euros.
The total payment to public employees (2,213,793.23 euros) will be funded from the municipal budget's gratuity allocation, which has 2,600,000 euros. The Social Security contributions (172,991.79 euros) will be drawn from the specific budget of the Human Resources department.
