PATERNITY LEAVE IN SPAIN: HOW LONG DOES PARENTAL LEAVE LAST IN EACH SITUATION?

Regardless of the permission the mother has, the father is also entitled to a period of leave or work rest by birth or adoption, for which he receives 100% of his salary (exempt from personal income tax), including all the concepts of the regulatory base.

The duration of the paternity leave in Spain has evolved in recent years, from two weeks to the current five, the eight that will take place soon, and the 16 weeks estimated in 2021. Today we analyze all the peculiarities of the Paternity leave in our country.

General paternity leave

The first thing we must do is to differentiate between the "birth permit" and the "paternity leave", as they are two different issues.

The birth permit is paid by the company and It lasts for two days: the day of the child's birth, and the day after. These days can be extended to four in case of displacements, or even more days if so established in the company agreement.
For its part, the paternity leave, is what is paid by Social Security and corresponds to the current five weeks, effective since July last year.

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Paternity leave in Spain has been increasing in recent years:

In 2007, Organic Law 3/2007, of March 22, was approved for the Effective Equality of men and women, and where paternity leave was recognized for the first time as a measure of support for family conciliation. This permit consisted of 13 days.
In 2017, the Government raised it to a month
In July 2018 it rose to five weeks, and recently it has been announced that throughout 2019 it will rise to eight weeks, until match it progressively at 16 weeks that mothers have.

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Most parents decide to enjoy these five weeks without interruption after delivery. However, if the worker and the employer reach an agreement, the last week of the withdrawal can be enjoyed independently at another time within nine months after the date of birth of the child, or the resolution establishing the adoption, custody or foster care.

Peculiarities of the general paternity leave

The general paternity leave has some peculiarities that we discuss:

Officials who are parents this year already have an eight-week permit, of which the first four must coincide with the mother, and the remaining four can be enjoyed when desired.

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The Basque Government has announced that it will raise the paternity leave to 16 weeks from the fall of this year, being the first autonomous community to equate maternity and paternity leave. Likewise, it has been proposed to extend the paternity leave to the private sector to three months, although this measure has not yet entered into force.
Several private companies have decided to make progress in conciliation and have raised the paternity leave of their workers. Such is the case of Ikea, in which its employees have seven weeks of paternity leave, or Mercadona, which recently announced a similar measure.

Delivery or multiple adoption

In case of multiple birth, or multiple adoption / foster care, two more days per child will be added from the second. In this case, the last week of paternity leave can also be enjoyed independently at another time within nine months of the date of birth of the children.

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Premature birth and hospitalization of the baby after delivery

In case of premature delivery with hospitalization, or if the baby has any condition that requires admission after delivery for a period greater than seven days, it should be known that currently there is no automatic extension of paternity leave.

However, the mother will be able to have an additional permit that will be extended in as many days as the baby is hospitalized for up to 13 weeks. In any case, if she so desires and the father meets all the requirements, the mother may assign this permission to the other parent.

"The enjoyment of this additional period will correspond to the mother or, at her option, to the other parent, if she meets the necessary requirements and enjoys the rest" - we can read in this Social Security link

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In the event of preterm birth or hospitalization, and after having enjoyed two days of birth leave (or more days, if the agreement so establishes it by "family member's hospitalization"), the father can choose the option of interrupt your permission until your child is discharged and start enjoying it from that moment.

In this way, and as long as the baby is admitted and the father working, he will be entitled to a two-hour daily permit, with the proportional decrease of his salary, and one hour of reduction of the day (you can see a practical case in this link).

Other considerations about paternity leave

To qualify for paternity leave, the father must be an active worker (either as an employed person) and contribute to Social Security with a minimum contribution period that you can consult in this link.
Paternity leave by birth, adoption or foster care can also enjoy part-time if the worker and the employer reach an agreement, and the working day is not less than 50% of that corresponding to a full-time worker. On the Social Security website we can consult the requirements that are needed to request this type of permit.
In the multi-employment situations, the beneficiary will enjoy paternity breaks and benefits in each of the jobs independently and uninterruptedly, in accordance with the regulations applicable in each case.
When there is only one parent, adoptive or welcoming (single parent family), the period of paternity to maternity cannot be accumulated.
Paternity leave for parents of large families or those with disabilities disabled children has the same conditions as the general permit
If the baby dies in childbirth or is born dead after more than 180 days of fetal life, the father has no right to paternity leave.
If the baby is born alive but dies soon, the father You will be entitled to paternity leave if you have processed the leave while the baby was alive.