Spain: Leave Due to Force Majeure Under Article 37.9 of the Workers’ Statute: Paid?

The purpose of this post is to discuss the Supreme Court ruling of April 17, 2026 (Case No. 111/2024), which addresses leave granted under Article 37.9 of the Workers’ Statute—leave due to force majeure.

In this regard, European Directives and their transposition into Spanish law have always been a source of conflict, as Spanish legislation typically incorporates European regulations but with modifications made by the Spanish legislature that do not always fully align with EU law.

At other times, as in the present case, the Spanish legislature goes beyond the provisions of European regulations and grants greater benefits to workers.

• Article 7 of Directive 2019/1158 recognizes leave due to force majeure as unpaid.
• Article 37.9 of the Workers’ Statute recognizes leave due to force majeure as paid.

Given the difference in treatment between European and Spanish regulations, the company Unísono Soluciones de Negocio, S.A., decided to grant the 4-day leave for force majeure, as provided for in Article 37.9 of the Workers’ Statute, for urgent family reasons related to family members or cohabitants, in the event of illness or accident, requiring immediate presence.

However, the company notified the unions that this leave would not be paid, given the absence of such an obligation in the directive.

In this way, the legal proceedings analyzed in this post began, as the unions sought to have the leave paid in accordance with Spanish regulations.

Thus, the Supreme Court upholds the established doctrine and declares that the leave for force majeure recognized in Article 37.9 of the Workers’ Statute is necessarily paid because, although the Directive does not expressly establish it as paid, the fact is that the recitals at the beginning of the Directive state that “Although Member States are free to decide whether to grant remuneration or a financial allowance for caregiver leave, they are encouraged to introduce such remuneration or allowance in order to ensure that caregivers actually exercise this right, particularly men”

And this is precisely what has occurred in the present case, as the Spanish legislature has sought to go a step further than what is provided for in the European Directive and has decided to grant remuneration for such leave.