PATERNITY LEAVE: WHAT PROCEDURES DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO APPLY FOR THE NEW EIGHT-WEEK BENEFIT

From day one of April new parents can now enjoy eight weeks of paternity leave. The five-to-eight-week extension that the government established by Royal Decree-Law on March 1 was realized "guarantee equal treatment and opportunities between women and men in employment".

If you are going to be a father soon Are you interested in knowing what requirements you must meet and what steps to take to enjoy this low pay and to be able to take care of your baby, a permit that will be extended until reaching 16 weeks in 2021 and thus equate with maternity leave.

Who can apply for paternity leave?

As explained by the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Social Security, the father is entitled to a period of leave or work rest by birth or adoption, for which he receives 100% of his regulatory base and is (exempt from personal income tax) .

It is necessary to distinguish between this permission and the one of birth, which lasts two days (birth and the next) and is paid by the company. They can be extended to four in case of displacements, or even more days if so established in the company agreement.

As requirements to be able to receive the benefit, it is required to have contributed for at least 180 days in the last seven years or 360 days throughout the working life.

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Paternity leave can be enjoyed on a full or part-time basis a minimum of 50% if an agreement is reached with the employer and is compatible and independent of maternity leave.

The first two weeks of the permit must be enjoyed continuously after delivery and the remaining six may be taken as desired, before the baby reaches 12 months. The benefit is non-transferable and the father cannot transfer it to the mother even if he does not enjoy it.

In case of delivery, adoption or multiple foster care, two more weeks will be added for each child from the second.

Public officials have the possibility that paternity leave can be enjoyed without coinciding with maternity leave, so that the baby is careful with one of their parents for 21 weeks in a row.

When can it be requested?

From the end of the paid leave for the birth of a child (two days after the birth), or from the judicial resolution establishing the adoption or from the administrative or judicial decision of foster care.
In the case of premature children or who for any other reason must remain hospitalized, they may benefit from the permit upon hospital discharge of the child.

In this way, and as long as the baby is admitted and the father working, he will be entitled to a two-hour daily permit, with the proportional decrease of his salary, and one hour of reduction of the day (you can see a practical case in this link).

You can consult other special cases that also entitle the benefit.

The right to recognition of the benefit prescribes after five years, counted from the day after birth or adoption.

The Social Security has a maximum period of 30 days from the moment the application is received, to resolve and notify the benefit. More information.

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Where is it processed?

It is the father who must submit the application to be recognized in the provincial Social Security office.

The request can also be made online, at the electronic headquarters of the Social Security. Once the form is completed and submitted, a PDF receipt is generated that can be downloaded. It includes the entry registration number, the date and the application number, necessary for any query on the subject, through the "Your Management" service of the personal portal "Your Social Security".

At the moment, when accessing the online service, you can read the following notice:

"Due to the changes that are introduced by the new benefit for birth and child care, in which it gives the possibility to both parents, adopters, guardians or welcoming, to enjoy the non-mandatory period in an interrupted way, we are working on the update of this service to be able to request these benefits with all its characteristics.Temporary, for births produced from 04/01/2019, you can make the request for this new benefit through this service, where the assumptions in which you can request and how to do it in each one of them ".

Any of the available accesses will direct the parent to the Your Social Security portal for authentication.

How is it processed?

The standardized Social Security model must be presented, where the father must indicate the reason, the date of the start of the permit, as well as the data of the company for which he is employed, or indicate if he is autonomous.

You can download the necessary form, according to the labor regime on the Social Security website.

And it must be accompanied by this documents:

Medical birth certificate of the baby delivered to the hospital. Or administrative or judicial resolution of adoption, foster care or guardianship.
The updated family book, which is achieved by registering the newborn in the Civil Registry, within three days of the birth or adoption. Or, failing that, telematic communication of birth from the health center. It will be enough for the medical party to carry the indication 'Data communicated to the Civil Registry' or some similar formula and be sealed by the health center. The Registry will send the parents the literal birth certificate, usually by email.
Company discharge certificate, where the salary received in the last month must be included.

Once all these papers have been collected, most of them necessary even if the benefit is not requested, the parent must go to a Social Security office (or carry out the paperwork online) and add to these documents, the last payroll, the DNI and the account number where to make the deposit.

The Social Security Institute sends the resolution of the request to the address of the interested party, who will receive the first admission the second week of the month following the recognition of his benefit.

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Just one more note: Haciendan technicians advise check that the paternity benefit appears as income exempt from personal income tax in the 2018 campaign which began on Tuesday, April 2, based on the Supreme Court ruling of October 3, 2018, although in principle they should not carry out any procedure.

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