More leave and protection to balance work and family

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1. Expands paid leave: two days for the birth of a child or for the death, serious accident or illness, or hospitalization of a relative, which become four days if travel is needed.
2. Improves reduced schedules: one hour of absence for breastfeeding a child under nine months, which either the mother or the father can take, and a reduced schedule to care for children under six or relatives who cannot care for themselves. The worker decides the schedule and must give fifteen days' notice before returning to the regular schedule.
3. Regulates unpaid leave to care for each child (up to three years) or a dependent relative (up to one year). It is an individual right, and the time on leave counts toward seniority, with the job held for the first year.
4. Sets the suspension of the employment contract at sixteen weeks for birth, adoption, or foster care of children under six, extended by two more weeks for each child after the second in multiple births or adoptions. The mother may choose for the father to take part of the leave, at the same time or consecutively.
5. Declares null and void any dismissal or termination of the contract during pregnancy, maternity, risk during pregnancy, adoption, or foster care, and when requesting or taking family leave, unless it is proven to be based on unrelated reasons. Absences due to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding do not count toward dismissal for absenteeism.
6. Creates the economic benefit for risk during pregnancy: if a pregnant worker cannot be moved to a job compatible with her condition, her contract is suspended with a subsidy equal to 75 percent of the regulatory base, managed by the National Social Security Institute. It also provides for job changes or adapted conditions during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Who it affects

• Employees: They get new leave, reduced schedules, and unpaid leave to care for children and relatives, plus protection against dismissal during pregnancy and maternity.
• Working mothers and fathers: They can share the maternity leave and share child care from birth or from the child joining the family.
• Employers: They must adapt working conditions for pregnant workers and can get a 100 percent rebate on Social Security contributions if they hire unemployed people as temporary replacements.
• Civil servants: The same unpaid leave and the sixteen-week leave for maternity, adoption, or foster care apply to them.
• Pregnant or breastfeeding workers: If no compatible job exists, they can enter the risk-during-pregnancy situation with an economic benefit.

Words worth knowing

Excedencia (unpaid leave)

A situation where the worker stops working and receiving pay but keeps certain rights and, for a time, the right to return to their job.

Suspensión del contrato (suspension of the employment contract)

A temporary pause in the employment relationship, for example for maternity, with the right to return to the job afterward.

Acogimiento permanente o preadoptivo (permanent or pre-adoptive foster care)

A legal arrangement by which a family takes in a minor, either before adoption or on a stable basis.

Base reguladora (regulatory base)

The amount used as a reference to calculate how much a Social Security benefit pays.

Consanguinidad o afinidad (blood or affinity relationship)

Kinship by blood (consanguinity) or through marriage or a partner relationship (affinity).

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries