The new permits to facilitate reconciliation and care for family members or cohabitants come into force this Friday, together with the 15-day paid leave in the case of registered partnership, as it exists for marriages.
These measures were included by the Government in the anti-crisis decree approved by the Council of Ministers last Tuesday. In the latest extension of the decree law on anti-crisis measures, the Ministry of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda decided to include said permits contemplated in the family law prepared by Ione Belarra’s team and whose processing was not completed due to the electoral advance.
As the Government points out in the decree published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) this Thursday, they were a requirement of a European directive that should have been transposed before August last year, for which reason a letter had already been received from the European Commission granting a new term —which expired in a few months— and there was a risk of a fine.
Workers may have five days of paid leave for serious accident or illness, hospitalization or surgical intervention without hospitalization that requires home rest of the spouse, common-law partner or relatives up to the second degree by consanguinity or affinity or cohabitants who need care.
In this way, the Government has extended the existing permit from two days to five days and its application also affects cohabitants with or without a relationship (something new so far).
Another of the paid leaves gives the right to be absent from work for up to four days a year due to force majeure when necessary for urgent reasons related to family members or cohabitants, in case of illness or accident that make their immediate presence essential. Workers may use this permit four days a year for hours or days.
This is a novel leave that will also be paid and seeks to allow fathers and mothers to be absent from work when there are urgent family reasons.
This eight-week parental leave may be enjoyed continuously or intermittently, full-time or part-time, until the minor reaches the age of eight. It can be used, for example, in the summer months or during the adaptation processes in nursery schools in September.
The Ministry of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda has incorporated into the royal decree that unmarried couples have the right to 15 days of permission for registration, just like marriages, something that the Belarra family law also contemplated.
The right to reduce the working day is extended to those workers who need to care for a relative up to the second degree of consanguinity of the spouse or common-law partner. In addition, this right applies to the care of children or dependents with disabilities, under 26 years of age and who have cancer or another serious illness, when the degree of disability exceeds 65% and is accredited before reaching 23 years of age.
