Understanding Workday Regulations and Employee Rights
1. Workday
The workday refers to the period during which employees perform their job tasks.
- Maximum duration: 40 hours per week on average, annually, up to a maximum of 9 hours per day.
- Work hours can be distributed unevenly, respecting the minimum rest periods.
- Weekly rest: 1 ½ days of rest per week (can be accumulated for up to 14 days).
- Daily rest: 12 hours.
- Breaks: 15 minutes when the workday exceeds 6 hours.
- Minors: Their 15-minute break is extended to half an hour every 4 hours, and the weekly rest period is 2 days.
2. Work Schedule and Holidays
Every company is obliged to create an annual work schedule and display it in a conspicuous place in the workplace. Each autonomous community can set a total of 14 non-working days (holidays), which are paid and non-recoverable. Of these, 2 must be local holidays. The following four holidays are always respected as non-working days: December 25th, January 1st, October 12th, and May 1st.
3. Annual Leave
The period for enjoying holidays is set in the holiday calendar and must be known by the worker at least two months in advance. It cannot be less than thirty calendar days per year worked. In the first and final year of the contract, the proportionate share of vacation time is based on time worked; 1 month of work equals 2.5 days of vacation. Vacation time cannot be financially compensated except in case of termination of employment without having taken the leave.
4. Paid Leave (Days Off, But You Get Paid)
These are days that the employee can be absent from work for the specified reasons, with notice and justification to the employer, without being deducted from their wages.
- Marriage: 15 consecutive calendar days.
- Prenatal exams and birth preparation techniques: Time required and justified.
- Birth of a child (father), death, accident or illness, hospitalization, or outpatient surgery requiring home rest for relatives up to the second degree (grandparents, grandchildren, or siblings): 2 days without travel, 4 days with travel.
- Transfer of habitual residence: 1 day.
- Fulfillment of an unavoidable public and personal duty: Time required and justified.
- Carrying out trade union functions and staff representation: 10, 20, 30, 35, or 40 hours per month, depending on the number of workers.
- Breastfeeding a child under 9 months: Two possibilities: the mother takes 1 hour a day (could be divided into two parts), or the father or mother accumulates the hours of leave into full days.
5. Working Hours
This is the number of hours the worker must work per day. It can be distinguished:
- Continuous-time and part-time, depending on whether it is with or without fragmentation of daily work.
- Rigid and flexible working hours: This allows workers to choose the times of entry and exit within a set time period.
5.1. Night Work (10:00 PM – 6:00 AM)
Night hours are those between ten PM and six o’clock. A night worker is considered to be someone who works at least one-third of their annual hours or three hours of their day at night.
5.2. Shift Work
This involves several people working on the same job but at different times.
5.3 Overtime
These are hours worked beyond the duration of normal working hours. The employer may either pay for them (at least equal to the regular hourly rate) or compensate with equivalent time off within four months. It is prohibited to perform overtime in the following cases:
- Workers under 18 years of age.
- Part-time work.
- Night work.
Exceptions are made for cases of force majeure (necessary to prevent or repair damage and other extraordinary and urgent claims). A maximum of 80 overtime hours per year can be performed, excluding overtime due to force majeure.