Leave for a grandchild's birth in Spain: law and collective agreement

You are about to become a grandparent, or you have heard your sister has given birth, and you want to know whether you can miss work without it being deducted. The honest answer, and the one rarely given in headlines, is this: the law does not give you paid leave for the birth of a grandchild alone. That does not mean you have no way out. It means looking in three places: the law, your collective agreement and the practical routes.

What the Workers’ Statute says

Paid leave is in article 37.3 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (Workers’ Statute). With notice and proof, the list is short:

• Marriage or registered partnership: 15 calendar days.
• Serious accident or illness, hospitalisation, or surgery without hospitalisation that needs home rest, of a relative up to second degree: 5 days.
• Death of a spouse, partner or relative up to second degree: 2 days, which can be 4 if you have to travel.
• Change of habitual home: 1 day.
• Unavoidable public and personal duty, prenatal exams and other situations.

No letter says “birth of a grandchild”. Nor “of a nephew or niece”. The birth of your own child is not in that list as that type of paid leave: it has its own suspension-of-contract regime, which I explain in birth leave in Spain.

Who counts as a second-degree relative

The degree is counted by distance in the family. This table avoids mistakes.

The five-day leave for hospitalisation exists to care for a relative who needs it, and grandchildren are included. So there is an indirect route: if the newborn or the mother is admitted, or there is surgery with rest, you may have those five days.

When you could be absent with a right to leave

The birth in itself is not an accident or a serious illness. But there are situations where the hospitalisation leave applies:

• A caesarean or a complicated birth that involves admission of the mother.
• Admission of the newborn to neonatal or special care.
• Surgery without hospitalisation that requires home rest.

If one of these happens, give notice as early as you can, ask for the medical proof and check your collective agreement’s criteria on how days are counted (working or calendar days, and from when). Not all agreements apply the same criterion, and case law has gradually made the start of the leave more flexible. The article on leave for hospitalisation or serious illness of a relative has the details.

What your collective agreement can give you

Convenios colectivos (sector or company collective agreements) can improve the Statute’s minimums. Some add a day or two for the birth of grandchildren, siblings or close relatives. Find it like this:

1. Locate the agreement for your sector and province (it is on your payslip or in your contract).
2. Find the chapter on “permisos y licencias” (leave).
3. Read the word “nacimiento” (birth) and the list of relatives.
4. If you cannot find it, ask the union representatives or HR.

Leave for the birth of a grandchild that appears in the agreement is as enforceable as the Statute’s.

If you have no leave: three practical routes

1. Holiday. Ask for it with the notice your agreement requires. In many companies the birth of a grandchild is reason enough to approve it.
2. Personal days. If your agreement or contract recognises them, they work for this.
3. Unpaid leave. You agree it with the employer. You are not paid, but you do not lose your job or get marked absent.

A fourth route, of a different scope, is the leave of absence to care for a relative, meant for long situations and not a birth. It appears in voluntary leave of absence in Spain.

An example

Ana works in a shop and her daughter gives birth by caesarean on Friday. The daughter stays admitted for three days.

• Ana may be entitled to the five days of article 37.3.b, because her daughter is a first-degree relative and is hospitalised. The usual outcome is that the employer accepts it with the proof.
• She tells her manager the same day, hands in the hospital proof, and her agreement says the five days are working days from the triggering event.
• If her daughter had given birth with no complications and gone home after 24 hours, Ana would have no paid leave by law. She would have had to use holiday or a personal day if her agreement provides them.

How to request hospitalisation leave step by step

If your grandchild’s birth comes with a hospital stay, the procedure is that of any paid leave:

1. Tell your employer as soon as you know, through your workplace’s usual channel (email, staff app, a message to your manager).
2. Ask for the medical proof: the admission note or hospital report with dates.
3. Clarify how days are counted: working or calendar days, and from which day. Your agreement says so and, if not, look at the criterion of your region’s court.
4. Hand in the proof when you return to work, or earlier if asked.
5. Keep a copy of everything until those days appear in your payslip.

One detail: hospitalisation leave can apply each time the triggering event happens. If there is a second admission of the same relative, ask whether it generates new leave.

If you work in the public sector

Public employees have their own leave regime, which can be broader than the Statute’s. Some civil-service agreements include leave for births of relatives that the Statute does not. Check your administration’s regulations or working conditions agreement.

What to do today

1. Read the leave chapter of your collective agreement.
2. If there is hospitalisation or surgery, ask for the medical proof.
3. Tell your employer in writing, even if it is a dated message.
4. If you have no leave, ask for holiday or unpaid leave in good time.
5. If your partner or child is the one having the baby, see how many weeks they get and how it is requested.

This page is informational and does not replace professional advice. Your collective agreement and case law can go beyond what the law says: check your case before being absent.