What are the rights of work and family reconciliation in Spain

Much is said about the right of fathers and mothers to be able reconcile work and family life and how this is carried out in the various Spanish companies, highlighting the difficulties that many families have to be able to reconcile fully. In this line, we review below the different Spanish laws and regulations that ensure this right.

This is how the Institute for Women and for the Equal Opportunities, dependent on the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, collects the rights that every worker has from the moment they form a family.

Rights of reconciliation of family and work life

The Law for Equality it elevates to the category of rights the different instruments of conciliation of the personal family and work life to the workers and to the workers to foment the balanced assumption of the familiar responsibilities, avoiding all discrimination based on its exercise.


The regulation of specific rights of conciliation is established in the Workers' Statute for all working people in the private sphere and for the personnel at the service of public administrations in the Basic Statute of Public Employees, instruments that will have to be used for Know exactly how these rights are specified.

Collective agreements may, in their respective scope, extend these rights and in some cases they require their realization in collective agreements.

Maternity permission

The maternity leave is of 16 weeks without interruption and can be extended in the case of multiple births in two more weeks for each son or daughter from the second. Saving six weeks after delivery, which are mandatory for the mother, this period can be distributed at the option of the interested party both from the temporary point of view (before or after delivery) and between both parents, which can be distributed ten weeks remaining and enjoy them jointly or separately.


In case of death of the mother, regardless of whether or not she performed any work, the other parent may make use of the entire or, where appropriate, the remaining part of the period of suspension, computed from the date of delivery and without deducting from it the part that the mother could have enjoyed prior to the birth.

Paternity leave

The Law for Equality recognizes for the first time the right to a paternity leave, autonomous of that of the mother, of 13 uninterrupted days, expandable in two more days for each son or daughter, starting from the second, in the assumptions of birth of son or daughter, adoption or fostering. This permit is added to the permit already in effect in two days or to the improvement thereof established in the collective agreement. regardless of whether or not the mother works and vacations.


The Final Provision Tenth of the Draft General State Budgets for 2014 foresees for January 1, 2015 the entry into force of the extension of this permit to four weeks.

The worker who exercises this right may do so during the period from the end of the permit for the birth of a legally or conventionally anticipated son or daughter, until the maternity leave of the mother ends or immediately after the end of this rest period. The suspension of the contract can be enjoyed on a full or part-time basis of a minimum of 50 percent, upon agreement between the employer and the employee and as determined by regulation. The worker must inform the employer, with due notice, of the exercise of this right in the terms established, where applicable, in the collective agreements.

Breastfeeding, right to one hour of absence

This permission constitutes an individual right of the workers, men or women, but it can only be exercised by one of the parents in case both work.

The workers will be entitled to one hour of absence from work for breastfeeding a son or daughter until the child reaches nine months, which can be divided into two fractions. The duration of the permit will be increased proportionally in cases of multiple birth, adoption or foster care.

This right may be replaced by a reduction of your day in half an hour with the same purpose or accumulate in full days in the terms provided for in collective bargaining or in the agreement reached with the employer respecting, where appropriate, what is established in that .

The employee, except force majeure, must pre-advise the employer with an advance of fifteen days or the one determined in the applicable collective agreement, specifying the date on which the lactation permit will begin and end.

Discrepancies that may arise between the company and the worker on the time specification and the determination of the periods of enjoyment of these permits must be resolved by the jurisdictional bodies of the social order.

Reduction of working day

Anyone under the direct care of a person under twelve years of age or a person with physical, mental or sensory disability, who does not perform a paid activity, shall be entitled to a reduction in the daily work day, with the proportional decrease in salary between, less, an eighth and a maximum of half the duration of the former "(as modified in article 37.5, first paragraph, of the Statute of Workers, by Royal Decree-law 16/2013, of December 20, measures to favor stable hiring and improve the employability of workers).

The same right shall have the same right to take care of a family member, up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity, who for reasons of age, accident or illness can not stand on his own, and does not perform remunerated activity.

The parent, adoptive or welcoming of a pre-adoptive or permanent nature, shall be entitled to a reduction of the working day, with the proportional reduction of the salary of, at least, half of the duration of the work, for the care, during the hospitalization and continued treatment, of the minor in his charge affected by cancer (malignant tumors, melanomas and carcinomas), or by any other serious illness, which implies a long-term hospital admission and requires the need for direct, continuous and permanent care, accredited by the report of the Public Health Service or sanitary administrative body of the corresponding Autonomous Community and, at most, until the child reaches the age of 18. By collective agreement, the conditions and assumptions in which this reduction of the working day may be accumulated in full days may be established.

Reductions of working hours constitute an individual right of workers, men or women. However, if two or more workers of the same company generated this right for the same subject, the employer may limit their simultaneous exercise for justified reasons of operation of the company.

The employee, except force majeure, must pre-advise the employer with an advance of fifteen days or the one determined in the applicable collective agreement, specifying the date on which the reduction of the working day will begin and end.

Discrepancies arising between the company and the worker over the aforementioned time specification and the determination of the periods of enjoyment will be resolved by the competent jurisdiction.

Leave for care of minors and relatives

The duration of leave for care of minors and dependent family members is, in the case of care of children under 3 years of age, a maximum of up to three years from birth. In the case of care of a family member up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity, who for reasons of age, accident, illness or disability can not stand on his own and does not perform remunerated activity, the maximum period is two years. In addition, the leave can be enjoyed fractionally.

At the end of the first year of leave, there is the right of reinstatement to the same job. After this period, the right to reserve the job and therefore the right to re-enter is retained, but in this case you only have the right to re-enter a job in the same professional group or equivalent category.

The entire period in which the worker remains on leave for care of relatives will be computable for the purpose of seniority, and the surplus person will be entitled to attend vocational training courses.

Holidays

When the vacation period set in the holiday calendar of the company coincides in time with a temporary disability resulting from pregnancy, childbirth or breast-feeding or with the period of suspension of the contract of work for maternity or paternity, it shall be entitled to enjoy holidays on a different date, even if the natural year to which they correspond has ended.

Day flexibility

The worker shall have the right to adapt the duration and distribution of the working day to enforce his right to conciliation of personal, family and work life in the terms established in collective bargaining or in the agreement reached with the worker. employer respecting, where appropriate, the provisions of the former.

To this end, the use of continuous working hours, flexible hours or other ways of organizing work time and breaks that allow for greater compatibility between the right to work-life balance of personal, family and work life will be promoted. workers and the improvement of productivity in companies.

Marisol Nuevo Espín

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