The new paternity leave: news
The road to reconciliation is still written on a day-to-day basis with different actions. Practices that start families, companies and public administrations. In fact, Spain is witnessing the expansion of the paternity leave that can be enjoyed outside the mother's and that ensures that the child can receive care for longer.
Now, with the approval of the General State Budgets for the year 2018, and its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE), this new paternity leave it comes into force. Specifically, those families who have a child from next Thursday July 5 will be eligible for this extension and ensure that their children have the presence of one of their parents for at least 21 weeks.
News of paternity leave
As has been said, it will be from tomorrow, July 5, 2018, when the new paternity leave comes into force. One day after the publication of the Law of the General Budgets of the State for the year 2018 in the BOE. What's new for families? The first is the extension in one week of this leave for the care of newborn children.
That is, parents who have a child as of the aforementioned date will have up to 5 weeks for the care of it. This extension of paternity leave continues to ensure the enjoyment in a personal and non-transferable way, in addition to being able to be executed independently of the leave granted to the mother, which is 16 weeks.
A total of 21 weeks of paternity are assured if combined leave of both parents. This time, in both cases, also assesses the possibility of an extension of two more days for each child from the second. As in the past, the temporary suspension of work may be enjoyed on a full or part-time basis of a minimum of 50%, subject to agreement between the employer and the worker, and as determined by regulation.
A permit that works
This innovation is the result of the path initiated in 2017 with the introduction of personal and non-transferable paternity leave. A change that has been taken advantage of by Spanish parents, who have not missed the opportunity to request this time for the care of their children.
Proof of this are the data offered by the Social Security last April and that took stock of the first quarter of the year in this regard. The number of parents who requested this leave for the care of their child exceeded the number of mothers, in particular the Social Security registered 64,505 applications for paternity leave for 62,832 of maternity.
Another sign of the success of this measure is that in June 2017, six months later of the implantation of the paternity leave, 122,183 requests for this work leave were registered. On that occasion, the number of mothers who requested this leave for the care of their children exceeded the number of parents and 134,726 were counted.
Damián Montero
