Mossos police salary: 3,540 euros, only 1,425 were extra pay

Of 3,540 euros, only 1,425 were extra pay

A payslip for 3,540 euros in a single month. The receipt, attributed to a sergeant in the Mossos d'Esquadra — the Catalan police force equivalent to a sub-inspector in the National Police — has circulated as proof of an alleged privilege: 24 years of service, eight triennials, and a destination complement at level 17, according to the breakdown shared with the receipt. His December payment arrived with the extra included. That is where almost all the misunderstanding stems from.

Of those 3,540 euros, the actual extra pay was 1,425.61. The rest, 2,115, was the ordinary monthly salary. This confusion matters because an entire wave of indignation has been built on it.

How much is extra pay and how much is salary in the December payslip?

In the Administration, December is paid in a single entry that combines the ordinary and extra payslips, inflating the visible amount. A breakdown circulated with the receipt calculates the gross extra pay at 1,894.41 euros — base salary, two complements, and seniority — and, after withholdings of 393.57, 56.82, and 18 euros, leaves the net at those 1,425.61.

The titular's monthly salary is around 2,115 euros, and in small posts it barely exceeds 2,000. Nothing like 7,000 net, as was assumed in a first reading of the receipt before looking at it carefully.

Why does a state agent earn up to 1,000 euros less than a mossos?

The trigger was not a mossos, but a state agent — from the National Police or the Guardia Civil — who shared a colleague's regional payslip and reported a difference of 1,000 euros compared to him. His complaint has a name: salary equalization, a claim that state bodies have been carrying for years and that, according to the complainant, the major unions have set aside except for some exceptions. The message closed with a "Doesn't it hurt you? Well, then don't move."

The gap is not debated: a regional sergeant and a state sub-inspector may differ by around 1,000 euros per month. What is debated is what to do about it. And there is no agreement there, nor does it seem there will be.

What concepts are included and which are not in the extra pay

Night shifts, holidays, turns, danger, productivity, and other complements are excluded from the extra pay. Only the base salary, seniority, destination complement, and part of the general specific complement are included. This is a rule with legal status, not a decision by each body.

This explains why two agents with similar monthly payslips end December with very different extras: those with a high specific complement or much seniority notice it; those who live off turns and holidays do not. In the regional comparison, there is something more underlying: according to agents themselves, in Catalan bodies the extra pay approaches the amount of the salary, while in the General State Administration it usually stays at half.

The December "scarf" and the two payment dates

The extra pay is not the only extraordinary payment in the month. According to the breakdown circulating in the thread, national police officers also receive annual productivity — the scarf — about 800 euros net; in the Guardia Civil the figure drops to about 400. It goes in a separate incident payslip and is deducted from those on leave. As for the calendar, the Christmas extra pay is paid around the 20th, 21st, or 22nd of December, and the summer one on July 17, according to the dates managed by public employees themselves.

Retirement at 57, ZOCON complement, and other benefits

Salary is only part of the package. Those assigned in the Basque Country or Navarre sum, according to the calculations shared in the thread, a complement of about 650 euros monthly, the so-called ZOCON. With two years of service, one can reach, always according to that same calculation, 27,000 clean euros annually, with private health insurance and dental coverage included.

Retirement adds another argument, although versions differ on it: some place the 100% retirement of a mossos at 57 years and that of national police officers at 59, with a regulatory income of about 30,000 euros gross per year. In lower scales, moving to second activity at 56 leaves the pension around 1,600 euros, according to another version of the thread. On whether this is a privilege or compensation for risk, there are two narratives that do not intersect.

The other side: 1,100 euros per month and the proposal to cut salaries

To the high payslip responds the low one: some report having received 1,100 euros that same month. From there jumps the argument about the entire sector. That the average salary of a civil servant exceeds that of a private worker, this current argues, is a sign that something has gone wrong; the conclusion some draw is to lower public salaries.

In between are the taxes supporting both payslips, the state and regional, and a question without an easy answer: if a body with its own powers must earn the same as the state one doing the same job, or less. How much does it cost for someone to put on the uniform in December and keep it on in January?