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Gestión LaboralA study has recently been published on how maternity and paternity leave is used in Spain. Let’s remember that, since 2021, these leaves have been equalized with the intention of reducing discrimination between men and women for this cause. Currently, both men and women enjoy 16 weeks of leave after giving birth to a child. The same is true in cases of adoption, foster care or adoption for adoption purposes.
This study reveals that, in most cases, the father takes paternity leave on the same days as the mother. The authors conclude that “only a minority of fathers (around 20%) use the combination that allows greater co-responsibility (taking turns with the mother) and that allows them to assume the role of primary caregiver”. According to data from the same study, approximately 50% of fathers choose to use this leave simultaneously and uninterruptedly, i.e., they take it during the 16 weeks following the birth of their child.
The truth is that paternity or maternity leave is a matter that directly concerns Human Resources Departments. They are in charge of managing these paid leaves within the companies. For this reason, it is necessary to be up to date with all the modifications related to them. In recent years, paternity and maternity leaves have changed a lot, so we are going to review the key points of these leaves in order to better manage them.
As we have explained, this leave is a right that working parents have after giving birth to a child. This leave also applies in other cases such as adoption, foster care or foster care for adoption purposes. It is a period of time during which the employment contract is temporarily suspended. The purpose of this suspension is for the person in question to devote this time to caring for the new child and to be able to take care of it during its first months of life.
Historically, paternity leave was shorter than maternity leave. This situation has been seen as an inequality for women when it comes to being hired, because if they became pregnant, the employer knew that their time away from the office was greater than that of a man. To put an end to this possible discrimination, the different governments have legislated to achieve an equalization in the time of these leaves. This equalization ended in 2021, when it was determined that both men and women are entitled to the same leave time for having a child: 16 weeks.
The duration and time distribution of these leaves is 16 weeks from the birth of the child. However, these weeks do not have to be taken uninterruptedly. The only obligation in these weeks is that the first 6 weeks of leave must be taken uninterrupted and full time. Once these weeks have elapsed, the following 10 weeks can be taken in two ways:
This is the general rule governing leave for a new child. However, there are exceptional cases that may extend these leaves:
Requirements for requesting paternity leave
There are a series of requirements that must be met in order to be entitled to paternity leave for the birth or adoption of a new child. Current legislation establishes the following requirements:
In order to determine whether the minimum contribution period has been met, there are three age brackets: those who have not reached 21 years of age, those between 21 and 26 years of age, and those over 26 years of age.
In the first case, there is no minimum contribution requirement if the workers are under 21 years of age on the date of the birth or on the date of the administrative or judicial foster care decision or the judicial decision establishing the adoption.
If we are talking about persons between 21 and 26 years of age on the date of delivery or on the date of the administrative or judicial decision of foster care or of the judicial resolution by which the adoption is constituted, they will have to comply with one of these two requirements:
Finally, in the case of parents aged 26 or older, the requirements to be met are as follows:
At Vasalto, we are experts in labor management. We specialize in helping other companies with services such as managing employee registrations and cancellations, outsourcing payroll and all processes related to labor relations management. Our more than 30 years of experience have given us a great expertise in the sector. In addition, we are a company very involved with technology. Throughout these years we have developed a series of proprietary computer systems that allow us to manage more than 40,000 payrolls every month. In addition, we also have the best legal and accounting advice to offer our clients the best possible service.
At Vasalto, we believe that communication between people is fundamental. We make technology available to people, never the other way around. We work with technological automation solutions so that IT takes as much work off our hands as possible. This way, we have more time to dedicate to our clients.
If you are interested in learning more about our labor management services, at Vasalto we will be happy to help you. Contact us to get to know us and see how we can help your company.