Labor fines a Lanzarote company more than 108,000 euros for employing undocumented workers

The Provincial Inspection of Labor and Social Security of Las Palmas has fined more than 108,600 euros the company Obras y Construcciones Meralanz S.L., based in Yaiza, for labor exploitation of undocumented foreign workers on construction sites in Lanzarote. 

As part of this police operation that began in October of last year and was dubbed Operation Bordillo, sixteen people were arrested, including two businessmen from the construction sector and fourteen foreign workers, thirteen of them from Colombia and one from Ecuador. 

According to the resolution that *La Voz* has accessed, this sanction is divided into two parts. The larger amount, 72,000 euros, must be paid as a fine, and another smaller amount, around 36,600 euros, corresponds to outstanding Social Security contributions. The sanction was subject to a 40% reduction, conditional on the acknowledgment of the facts and payment of the fine within a specified period.

The investigation carried out by a mixed group, composed of agents from the National Police and officials from the ITSS, revealed that the company provided subcontractors with the data of legally hired employees, although it later sent other workers in irregular situations to the construction sites, whom they forced to memorize the personal data of the former.

In this way, the construction company kept different employees active with the same identity on different construction sites, evading the payment of Social Security contributions and obtaining illicit economic benefit at the expense of the workers' vulnerability.

Five inspections at Meralanz workplaces

The Labor Inspectorate conducted five inspections on November 4, 2025, between 10:00 AM and 11:40 AM, at construction sites carried out by this company. The construction sites where they intervened were spread across the island. From the work on social housing in Playa Blanca, located in the El Pueblito urbanization, to the remodeling of the Arrecife treatment plant, the headquarters of the Canary Tax Agency delegation in Arrecife, the paving in San Bartolomé, as well as the hotel under construction at Gloria Palace in Costa Teguise.

The report from the Social Security Institute reflects that the company Obras y Construcciones Meralanz SL  employed twelve foreign workers who did not have administrative authorization to work in Spain, that it also did not register four employees, and that two of these latter employees were receiving unemployment benefits. 

At the same time, it stated that the company also did not record the entry and exit of its employees, with excessive working hours that were not paid in the payrolls and without contributing to Social Security. To which is added that it did not provide all the required documentation nor did the representatives appear before the requests, as well as that one of the entity's representatives was not registered as self-employed.

The aforementioned report highlights that the entity committed an infraction in matters of Foreigners by employing twelve workers without work permits, in addition to having employed two workers in unemployment, not registering another two employees, nor identifying four workers who were working on the construction of the Hotel Gloria Palace in Costa Teguise.

While it also issued an infraction against two workers for "inappropriately combining" unemployment benefits with work at this company.