The extension of paternity leave does not take effect in January
From the January 1, 2017 Every man in Spain can apply for paternity leave of 4 weeks to take care of your baby. A leave of absence thanks to which he can enjoy his children and be able to be by his side during his first days of life and also conjugate with the mother so that the child spends more time with his parents in these moments in which he is so dependent.
A year later it was expected that this paternity leave would be extended to 5 weeks, giving a new year's gift to all the families that in this 2018 brought a baby to the world. However, it seems that it will play to wait to see how this course develops and if in the next months such prolongation becomes effective.
Absence in the Council of Ministers
The absence of this extension is assumed after the Minister council Do not include it in your last meeting of 2017. Several measures were approved at this meeting but among them the extension was not to 5 weeks. It is time to wait to see how 2018 develops in this sense since it is not certain that this measure will finally be effective.
Everything will depend on whether finally the 2018 General Budgets they end up approving themselves and if in one of their chapters the 5-week extension of paternity leave is valued. Another possible scenario is to extend the 2017, decision to be taken would mean that this extension would not be made in this course and would have to wait another year.
Since the implantation of paternity leave in January of 2017 until June of the same year, a total of 122,183 parents took advantage of this leave to dedicate themselves to the care of their children. In the case of women were 134,726 mothers who did the same to stay at home with their children after the birth of them. Some numbers that in six months have been compared very much.
A difference of little more than 12,500 cases and that show that despite the initial fears of many parents, they have finally decided to bet on the involvement in the upbringing of their children. Many men were reluctant to request this leave as it could involve certain problems on the part of their bosses when requesting to leave their post during these four weeks.
Attention to large families
The extension of paternity leave is not the only issue that the Government has in this regard. The Spanish Federation of Large Families, FEFN, has asked the Executive to reconsider the merit that these homes deserve. For this body with the previous policy of extended leave extended from 13 to 20 days by which a man could spend with his son at home once he was born if he belonged to a large family.
However, with the entry of this change, the 28 days they become the same for all men, regardless of whether they belong to a household with more children or if it is the first. For this reason FEFN has raised a petition to the Minister of Employment and Social Security, Fatima Bañez to reconsider on the matter and grant more time at home to parents belonging to these types of homes.
"Given the needs of a large family and in the spirit of favoring co-responsibility in the home, equality, support for the birthrate and similarly, support families with children, families with greater family responsibilities should have special treatment, greater in terms of the number of days of paternity leave, "they say. from FEFN in its petition to the Government.
Damián Montero
