Reduction of working hours for childcare

Reduction of working hours for childcare

Having a baby implies a lot of responsibility and taking time from where there is hardly any to be able to take care of it. When you are working, this can be suffocating. But perhaps what you don't know is that both men and women are entitled to a reduction in working hours for childcare. You want to know more?

Discover, below, what the legislation is like and all that it entails, both for better and for worse. So how about you keep reading?

Reduction of working hours for child care: what is it?

We are going to start first of all by explaining to you what the reduction of working hours for childcare is. Is about a right that all workers have to help them reconcile work and family life. This is not related to spending more or less time in the company, or having an employment contract or another, but it is an option that can be accepted and that is recognized in the Workers' Statute.

Exactly, it is article 37 of the Workers' Statute that determines what are the situations for which a worker can request a reduction in working hours for child care. And specifically they are:

  • To care for a child under 12 years of age.
  • To care for children with disabilities, be it physical, psychic or sensory. In this case, the age limitation is not taken into account, but the fact that the child does not work or cannot fend for himself is.
  • By direct care of a family member. It can be requested up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity, as long as that person does not work and cannot fend for himself.
  • If the child has been diagnosed with cancer or a serious illness. Contrary to all of the above, there is an age limitation (up to 23 years old) and it must also be proven that you need direct and continuous care from the parents.

The steps to request the reduction of working hours for child care

Family enjoying the reduction of working hours for childcare

If after the above you think you can take advantage of this right, it is most likely that you need to know what are the steps to take for it. In this sense you should know that, first of all, You have to prepare all the documentation that may be requested. Everything will depend on the situation in which you find yourself, because a reduction for illness is not the same as one for caring for a child under 12 years of age.

Also, it must be done in writing so that the company has one copy and you have another. Actually there is no official model, although in some collective agreements they have included these forms.

To request it, in addition to the document, It is advisable that there is another person, in addition to the employer, who acts as a witness. The reason is to have proof that it has been requested (in addition to the written document) and to prevent the employer from retaliating against the worker (such as firing him).

Some time has to elapse from the time it is requested until it becomes effective. In other words, when you request it, what you do is notify the employer 15 days in advance so that he can organize things and that his productivity is reduced as little as possible. In addition, at that time the employer can deny this right. Although it must be well justified (because it should not be denied), it may happen that if two parents are in the same company and request the same right at the same time for the same child, the employer may deny permission to one of them).

Once those 15 days have passed The new schedule would come into force and the reduced working day would begin.

Before returning to work, must notify, also 15 days in advance, the employer upon his return to work.

How to reduce the day for child care

Family taking care of their son

In this sense, it is article 37.6 of the ET that clarifies everything for us. To start, you should know that:

  • The reduction in working hours must be within the worker's usual schedule at the time you request your right. For example, he imagines that a worker has a winter schedule from 9 to 5 in the afternoon, and in summer from 8 to 2 in the afternoon. This means that, if he requests it in winter, the reduction will be in his winter schedule, not in his summer schedule.
  • This reduction is daily. In other words, it is not possible to request that the working day be reduced for only a few days of the week (unless otherwise agreed by collective agreement).

What does the reduction of working hours for child care imply?

Father taking care of his son

Requesting a reduction in working hours to care for your child is good because you have more time, but the truth is that there are other effects that, to a greater or lesser extent, they cause workers to request this right or not.

One of the first effects is that a reduction in working hours implies that the salary is also reduced. How many? It will depend on the reduction in working hours that is made.

The same will happen with Social Security. (where they will not quote the same) nor are salary supplements. The only way that this is not affected is that by collective agreement there is no reduction.

In the case of the Social Security contribution, you should know that, by reducing the working day, the contribution will also be different, and that, believe it or not, may affect the calculation of permanent disability or retirement. Now, it comes with a trick. And it is that, during the first two years of caring for children under 12 years of age, there will be no reduction in Social Security. From those two yes.

And in case of family care, the first year the 100% contribution is maintained and then it drops according to the reduction that has been done.

As you can see, the reduction in working hours for childcare is something that any worker can ask the company for, but it implies, among other things, a reduction in salary, which, sometimes, is not feasible in order to make ends meet. and bear the costs incurred. Have you ever asked for it?


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