On 31 July, Royal Decree-Law 9/2025 of 29 July came into force, extending and redefining maternity/paternity leave and leave for the care of a child. This legislation completed the transposition into Spanish law of Directive (EU)
2019/1158 on the work-life balance of parents and carers, and has undoubtedly been one of the most significant reforms in recent years regarding employment leave.
In particular, Royal Decree-Law 9/2025 introduced substantial amendments to sections 4 and 5 of Article 48 of the consolidated text of the Workers’ Statute, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015 of 23 October, strengthening shared responsibility for care, extending individual and non-transferable rights, and advancing effective equality between women and men in the workplace.
The main change is that leave for the birth and care of a child now has a total duration of nineteen (19) weeks’ paid leave per parent, on an individual and non-transferable basis (previously 16 weeks). This leave applies to cases of
birth as well as adoption, foster care with a view to adoption and kinship care. In the case of single-parent families, the duration is extended to a total of thirty-two (32) weeks (previously 26 weeks), reinforcing the principle of equality in the actual time spent caring for the child.
The structure of the leave is distributed as follows: The six (6) weeks of compulsory, uninterrupted, full-time leave are retained, and must be taken immediately following the birth or the relevant administrative or judicial decision.
To these are added a further eleven (11) weeks of voluntary leave, which may be taken continuously or intermittently until the child reaches twelve months of age. The most notable change is the introduction of two (2) additional weeks of parental care, which may be taken flexibly until the child reaches the age of eight. In cases of single parenthood, this final period is increased to four (4) weeks.
All weeks of leave are paid, with a benefit equivalent to one hundred per cent of the regulatory base paid by the Social Security, and with the employment contract suspended and the post reserved during the period of leave.
Particular attention should be paid to the retroactive application regime provided for in the sole transitional provision of the Royal Decree-Law, which establishes that the two additional weeks of parental leave — four in the case of single- parent families — are also applicable to qualifying events occurring from 2
August 2024 onwards, even if they predate the entry into force of the Royal Decree-Law itself. However, the legislator has postponed the effective exercise of this right, so that these weeks may be taken and the corresponding financial benefit applied for from 1 January 2026, without the need for a new recognition
of the right.
Alongside this reform, which is now fully in force, it is worth recalling that at the end of 2025 a significant agreement was reached through social dialogue regarding leave linked to the death of family members and end-of-life care.
Specifically, the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy and the trade unions agreed to extend bereavement leave to up to ten working days for certain family members, to create a new paid leave of up to fifteen days for palliative care,
and to recognise a one-day leave to accompany a person who is to receive assisted dying.
However, as of today, these measures have not yet been incorporated into the Workers’ Statute. Consequently, they do not yet constitute generally enforceable legal rights, although they may be applicable where they have been
agreed in a collective agreement or through company-level agreements.
In short, the only regime currently fully in force is that derived from Royal Decree-Law 9/2025 on leave for childbirth and childcare, including the additional weeks of parental leave and its limited retroactive application. The
new extended bereavement leave, palliative care leave and euthanasia support leave remain, for the time being, in the regulatory processing phase, pending their eventual incorporation into the legal framework governing employment.
The employment law department at Marroquín Abogados can assist you in gaining a deeper understanding of these types of leave.
