Knowledge & Insights

Leaves of absence, a comparison within Italy and Spain

By Lexellent , álvarez lentner
29 Dec, 2025 News

Which are the main leaves provided by the Spanish/Italian system and where are they regulated? 


ITALY

In Italy we have two main different categories of periods of absence from work: 'permessi' (usually shorter, that can be quantified in hours or days) and 'congedi' (usually longer).

These types of leave are not covered by a single set of regulations, but by individual laws, which may also be supplemented by national collective bargaining agreements.Consequently, the regulations governing them vary according to the sector in question and are not uniform.

The entitlement to time off and leave, acknowledged when all the legal/contractual conditions required are met, envisages the preservation of the employment and, in certain cases, also remuneration.

Here is an overview of the main provisions, with references to the relevant regulatory and contractual sources: maternity leave (Legislative Decree No. 151/2001), paternity leave (Legislative Decree No. 151/2001), parental leave (Legislative Decree No. 151/2001), daily rest periods for mothers and fathers (Articles 39 et seq. of Legislative Decree No. 151/2002), leave for a child's illness (Legislative Decree No. 151/2001), leave under Law No. 104/1992 (concerning the rights of persons with disabilities), marriage/civil partnership leave (Law No. 76/2016), leave for women victims of gender-based violence, leave for the care of disabled persons (Article 7 of Legislative Decree No. 119/2011), leave for training (Articles 5 and 6 of Law No. 53/2000), leave for study purposes (Article 10 of Law No. 300/1970), leave for special circumstances and causes such as bereavement or serious illness (Article 4 of Law No. 53/2000), leave for trade union activities and elective public office (Law No. 300/1970), leave and permits for workers suffering from cancer or other disabling or chronic diseases which result in a degree of disability of at least 74% (Law No. 106/2025, in effect since 9 August 2025).

The most important types of leave/time off are summarised below.

Compulsory maternity leave (duration: five months, which can be taken from two months before the expected date of birth.).

Compulsory paternity leave (duration: ten working days - not necessarily consecutive -, to be taken between two months before and five months after the birth).

Leave to care for a person with a severe disability pursuant to Law 104/1992 (duration: three days per month or two hours per day for full-time workers.)

Leave for trade union reasons (duration: depends on the applicable national collective bargaining agreement and role, e.g. trade union representative or trade union leader).

SPAIN

In Spain, leave of absence is primarily regulated by the Workers’ Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores [WS]), which establishes the statutory minimum rights applicable to all employees. These rules are complemented by the Social Security legislation, Royal Decree-Laws, and specific regulations adopted in recent years to strengthen work–life balance and family protection. Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) are particularly relevant, as they may improve the statutory rights in terms of duration or payment of benefits. However, they can never worsen the Worker’s Statute and/or other laws. Furthermore, the CBA can establish other leaves of absence, not specified in the WS.

Article 37 of the WS provides various paid leaves (paid by the employer). During these specific leaves of absence, the contract is not suspended:

  • Leave for marriage or registered partnership:
    The duration of this leave is 15 calendar days, and recent legislative developments have expressly confirmed the equal treatment of marriage and registered partnerships.
  • Paid leave for serious illness, accident, hospitalisation or surgery of relatives 
    Employees are entitled to five working days of paid leave in cases of serious illness, accident, hospitalisation or surgical intervention (without hospitalization), requiring home rest affecting the spouse, registered partner, relatives up to the second degree, or other cohabiting persons requiring effective care. This leave has been significantly extended in recent reforms.
  • Leave for death of a family member
    Paid leave in the event of death of a family member of two days and another two, in case travelling is required. Recent legislative proposals would allow this leave to be flexibly distributed within a certain period following the death, although the statutory minimum remains as described above. Recently, the government and trade unions have reached an agreement to extend it to ten days. 
  • Leave for change of habitual residence
    Employees are entitled to one day of paid leave in the event of a change of their habitual residence.
  • Leave for public duties
    Employees are entitled to paid leave for the time strictly necessary to comply with an unavoidable public duty, such as jury service or electoral obligations. Although this paid leave can be paid by the employer, possible compensation from the relevant public authority could occur. Consequently, the employer could pay less.
  • Trade union and employee representation leave:
    Time off for the exercise of trade union functions or employee representation is expressly recognized by the WS and related legislation. The conditions and extent of this leave are often developed in CBAs. 
  • Leave for prenatal medical examinations and childbirth preparation:
    Employees are entitled to paid leave for the strictly necessary time to attend prenatal medical examinations and childbirth preparation techniques when these must take place during working hours.
  • Leave related to adoption, foster care or guardianship procedures:
    Employees are entitled to paid leave to attend mandatory information sessions, preparation courses and psychological or social assessments required in adoption, foster care or guardianship procedures.
  • Extraordinary leave due to weather alerts or serious and imminent risk:
    Paid leave of up to four days in situations where severe weather conditions or catastrophic events prevent access to the workplace or create a serious and imminent risk for the employee. If the situation persists, the leave may be extended until the causes disappear, without prejudice to possible suspension of the employment contract or reduction of working time due to force majeure.
  • Leave for organs or body tissues donation:
    Employees are entitled to paid leave for the strictly necessary time to carry out preparatory acts for the donation of organs or body tissues during working hours.
  • Infant care leave:
  1. In the event of birth, adoption, guardianship for the purposes of adoption or foster care, employees are entitled to one hour of absence from work, which may be divided into two halves, for the care of the infant until they reaches the age of nine months. The duration of the leave is increased proportionally in cases of multiple births, adoptions, guardianship for the purposes of adoption or foster care.
  2. Employees are entitled to one hour of absence from work in the event of the premature birth of a child or if, for any reason, they must remain in hospital following the birth.
  • Force majeure family leave:
    Article 37.9 of the WS recognizes a paid leave of up to four days per year, which may be taken by hours, in case of urgent family reasons (they must be proved) related to illness or accident of relatives or cohabitants that make the employee’s immediate presence indispensable. Nonetheless, the payment of these hours will be based on the provisions of the CBA or the agreement between the employer and the employee representatives, i.e., in the event of lack of regulation, they do not have to be paid. As a result, there are recent judgements which determine that those hours must be paid despite the lack of provisions in the CBA or the lack of agreements between the parties. 

In addition, leaves of absence related to studies should also be highlighted:

  1. sit for examinations, when the employee is regularly enrolled in those kinds of studies related to obtain an academic or professional qualification
  2. for professional training or improvement with job reservation/reservation of job post.
  3. Employees with at least one year of service in the company are entitled to twenty hours of paid leave per year for training related to the company's activity, which can be accumulated for a period of up to five years.

Leaves of absence with suspension of the employment contract:

  • Related to work-life balance:
  1. Paid parental leave (birth and childcare):
    This leave is regulated under article 48 WS and the corresponding Social Security provisions. Spain has unified maternity and paternity leave into a single entitlement applicable equally to both parents (parental leave). The current duration is 19 weeks per parent, with extensions for single-parent families, up to 32 weeks. The first six weeks must be taken on a compulsory, uninterrupted and full-time basis immediately following birth, adoption or foster care. The remaining weeks may be taken flexibly within the first twelve months.
  2. Unpaid parental leave:
    Unpaid parental leave is regulated under article 48 bis WS and was introduced following the EU Work–Life Balance Directive. Employees are entitled to up to eight weeks of leave per child, which may be taken on a continuous or discontinuous basis, and either full-time or part-time, until the child reaches the age of eight. This leave entails a suspension of the employment contract. Traditionally, parental leave has been unpaid, although employers are required to maintain Social Security contributions. Recent reforms have introduced two paid weeks of parental leave (the ones included in the previous 19 weeks per parental leave mentioned above), applicable to children born from 2 August 2024 and claimable from 1 January 2026, although most of the leave period remains unpaid in practice.
  • Unrelated work-life balance rights:
  1. Leave due to NON-work-related illness or accident:
    In cases of non-work-related illness or accidents, the employment contract is suspended in accordance with Social Security legislation. During this period, the employee is entitled to temporary sick leave benefits, which are mainly paid by the Social Security, with the employer usually paying the cost only during the initial statutory days. CBAs frequently provide salary complements for these leaves.
  2. Leave due to work-related accident or occupational disease:
    When the illness or accident is work-related, the employment contract is likewise suspended, but the economic protection is reinforced. During this period, the employee is entitled to temporary sick leave benefits too.
  3. Leave due to risk during pregnancy or breastfeeding: some factors as, exposure to harmful agents, long hours, stress… require the employer to perform, first of all, a risk assessment, in order to adapt the job or relocate the employee to another suitable position and in case risks cannot be removed, the last chance will be the suspension of the contract on full pay.


Is duration strictly fixed or can companies extend the duration of the leave?

ITALY

With regard to the leave of absence, companies can certainly treat employees more favourably, taking into account both the length of the leave and the financial compensation. However, when introducing changes, employers cannot reduce the rights guaranteed by law or mandatory regulations, such as CBAs. It is customary to increase the amount of payment, but not the length. 

SPAIN

The duration of leave established in the Workers’ Statute constitutes a mandatory legal minimum. Employers cannot reduce these entitlements but may improve them through company policies or collective bargaining agreements. In practice, many CBAs extend the duration of leave, improve remuneration or broaden the scope of protected situations.

Is leave always paid for its entire duration, or can there be unpaid periods? Who pay for them?

ITALY

In Italy, it is also possible to take unpaid leave, either partially or wholly.

For example, with regard to the main types of leave mentioned above:

  • compulsory maternity leave is paid at 80%, but collective agreements may provide a top-up to 100%.
  • compulsory paternity leave is paid at 100%.
  • some leave for trade union reasons, such as leave to attend trade union meetings or negotiations pursuant to Article 24 of the Labour Code, is unpaid.
  • in accordance with Law 106/2025, employees with cancer or other disabling or chronic illnesses, including rare diseases, which result in a degree of disability of at least 74%, may request a period of leave, either continuous or split, of up to twenty-four months. During this period, the employee retains their job, but is not entitled to pay.

If the time off/leave is paid, the method of payment depends on the type of leave or time off. In some cases, such as compulsory maternity or paternity leave and leave under Law 104/1992, payment is made by INPS (the national social security institute), but the employer advances it (in the case of compulsory maternity leave, as mentioned above, national collective bargaining agreements often require employers to supplement the 80% payment to bring it up to 100%). 

SPAIN

Leave in Spain is not always paid, and the entity responsible for payment depends on the nature of the leave. Leave related to birth and care of the child, pregnancy or breastfeeding risks and temporary incapacity due to illness or accident is mainly paid by Social Security or collaborating private entities. Paid leaves regulated under article 37 WS, are paid directly by the employer at full salary. Parental leave remains largely unpaid, except for the recently introduced paid weeks, although employers must continue to make Social Security contributions during the leave period.

You can find below a scheme regarding the payment procedure:

  • For non-work-related illness or accident leaves:
    - 0% of the salary from day 1 to 3 (unless otherwise provided for in the CBA)

         - 60% from day 4 to 15 by the employer and the same % from day 16 to 20 by the Social Security or collaborating private entities. Nonetheless, the CBA may improve this provision.

         - 75% from day 21  onwards (till day 365 + 180 days if there are any expectations of recovery) by the Social Security or collaborating private entities. Nonetheless, the CBA may improve this provision.

         - During the sick leave, companies must keep paying the Social Security contributions, even if the pension itself is paid, when applicable, by the private entities or the Social Security. 

  • For work-related accident or occupational disease:
    - 100% of the salary for day 1

         - 75% from day 2 onwards (till day 365 + 180 days if there are any expectations of recovery) by the Social Security or collaborating private entities.

  • Maternity and paternity (paid parental), unpaid parental (only two weeks are paid) and pregnancy or breastfeeding risks leave:
    - 100% of the salary from day 1 paid by the Social Security
  • For Article 37 WS leaves of absence: 100% of the salary (companies bear the cost). 
  • For studies leaves of absence: they are not paid, unless otherwise stipulated in the WE, the CBA or a specific agreement between employer and employee representatives.

Other information according to your legal system.

ITALY

The following aspects are relevant according to the Italian system and case law.

  • Prohibition of dismissal: generally, taking leave cannot be grounds for dismissal. In the case of maternity or paternity leave, the prohibition of dismissal extends until the child is one year old. If this prohibition is violated, the dismissal is null and void, and the employee is entitled to reinstatement.
  • Prohibition of misuse of leave provided for by Law 104/1992 (regarding the rights of people with disabilities): Misuse of this leave may justify dismissal for just cause. Italian courts consider that if an employee uses the leave provided for by Law 104 for activities not related to the actual care of a disabled family member, such behaviour constitutes an abuse of rights. When care is absent or merely marginal, the abuse compromises the purpose of the leave and may therefore justify dismissal for just cause, due to a serious breach of trust.
  • Equal treatment: During and after leave or time off, workers are entitled to the same duties, remuneration and classification, or equivalent duties, remuneration and classification. Therefore, taking leave cannot result in penalties relating to the employment relationship (e.g. bonuses or economic/career progression). Any negative treatment is unlawful.

SPAIN

From a general point of view, Spanish system has the same considerations and consequences as the Italian system. 

  • For instance, regarding prohibition of dismissal, there would be some protected employees (the ones who have requested or are on Paid leave for serious illness, accident, hospitalisation or surgery of relatives, infant care, the ones who have taken Paid parental leave (until the child is one year old), Unpaid parental leave and risk during pregnancy or breastfeeding leave.
  • For unprotected employees, for whom discrimination issues might arise (sick leave), the termination could be considered null and void or an unfair dismissal, in the even of lack of grounds. 
  • Furthermore, in Spain we have some judgements with similar conclusions as in Italy regarding the use of leave for other purposes not related to the one mentioned in the law and the maintenance of the same working conditions as those prior to the leave.