Spain: Five Days’ Paid Leave for Hospitalisation or Serious Illness of Relatives of the Employee as New Considerations of the Spanish Supreme Court

Paid leave has been significantly extended in the last year. Of all the new types of leave provided for in labour regulations, five days’ paid leave for hospitalisation or serious accident/illness of relatives is undoubtedly the one that generates the most legal disputes.

The truth is that the wording of the provision is not entirely clear and leaves the door open to possible interpretations, especially in relation to two unknowns not revealed by the wording of the regulation:

• Is it possible to take this leave more than once a year?

 

• Is it necessary for the patient to be in hospital in order to maintain the right to take the leave?

These doubts have been clarified by court rulings, including a ruling by the National Court and another by the Supreme Court, published less than a month apart (March and May 2025), which provide the necessary elements to understand the configuration of this paid leave.

The first ruling is the one from 7 March 2025, in which the National Court declared that the right to five days of paid leave for hospitalisation or serious accident/illness of a relative of the employee is not limited to one instance of leave per year, so the leave may be taken indefinitely during the year whenever a new event occurs.

Secondly, the Spanish Supreme Court ruling of 6 May 2025 stated that the fact that the employee’s relative is discharged from hospital does not automatically terminate the leave.

In fact, it strongly states that the leave is not exclusively linked to hospitalisation, but that it can also be taken in situations where the relative is still on sick leave but receiving care at home and outpatient treatment since, logically, in such a situation the relative still needs care.

On the contrary, what will determine the end of the leave is the medical discharge since this does mean the end of the need for care.

In conclusion, the five days of paid leave for hospitalisation or serious accident/illness: (i) can be taken as many times as a new event occurs; and (ii) remains in force even when the person is discharged from the hospital since the decisive factor for ending the leave is the existence of medical discharge, as this implies that there is no longer a need for care.