<
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/world/europe/spain-single-parents-paid-leave.html>
"Single parents in Spain can request the same total amount of paid parental
leave that couples are entitled to, a regional court has ruled, in a case that
could be a game changer for the large number of one-parent families in the
country.
The decision, by a court in the southeastern region of Murcia this month, is
the first to stem from a November ruling by Spain’s constitutional court that
barred discrimination against children born into single-parent families.
“The duration and intensity of the need for care and attention of a newborn is
the same regardless of the family model into which they were born,” the
constitutional court wrote in its decision, which the regional court cited.
In practice, it means that solo parents can request the full amount of paid
leave that Spanish couples are entitled to — six weeks of mandatory leave that
must be taken together, plus an additional 10 for each parent, a total of 16
weeks per parent. For a single person serving as both parents, that adds up to
32 weeks of paid leave, according to the regional court’s ruling.
Carla Vall, a Barcelona-based lawyer who is an expert on gender, said that new
parents in other parts of Spain could cite the Murcia court’s decision in
applying for the benefit. “Now this doctrine means that the rest of the courts
are going to adopt this reading of rights,” she said in a telephone interview.
Pablo Bustinduy, the social rights minister, described the decision as
“excellent news and a victory for civil society after years of struggle and
demands.”
The ruling brings Spain in line with a growing effort to standardize the amount
of leave between single parents and couples, joining European countries
including Finland, Germany and Sweden, in addition to Australia."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-congestion-pricing-safer-streets-nyc/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
