On 30 July 2025, Royal Decree-Law 9/2025was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and entered into force today, 31 July 2025. This new regulation extends parental leave and finalises the implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 concerning work-life balance for parents and carers.
The measure follows a year of EU sanctions against Spain for its incomplete transposition of the Directive, as well as intense legal debate arising from the resulting regulatory gap. This vacuum led several court rulings to recognise the remunerated nature of parental leave.
In this context, a particularly noteworthy development within the social jurisdiction is the recent judgment issued by Social Court No. 1 of Barcelona, dated 30 June 2025. The judge upheld the direct vertical effect of the EU Directive, ruling that beneficiaries of rights granted under EU law cannot be adversely affected by a Member State’s failure to transpose such provisions. Accordingly, the employer was ordered to pay the full amount corresponding to the parental leave entitlement.
Key provisions introduced by Royal Decree-Law 9/2025 include:
- Extension of paid leave.
Parental leave has been increased from 16 to 19 weeks per parent, and up to 32 weeks for single-parent families. The distribution corresponds as follows:
(i) 6 uninterrupted weeks immediately following birth.
(ii) 11 additional weeks (or 22 in single-parent cases), to be taken in weekly blocks—either consecutively or intermittently—until the child reaches 12 months of age.
(iii) 2 extra flexible weeks (4 in single-parent cases), available until the child turns 8. - 100% economic coverage.
These additional weeks of leave will be fully remunerated at 100% of the applicable regulatory base, with the Social Security system assuming the financial cost of this extended benefit. - Equal treatment between public and private sectors.
The new regime ensures parity between the public and private sectors. While the unpaid 8-week parental leave remains in place, paid leave for birth, adoption, and childcare is now extended to 19 weeks (or 32 weeks in the case of single-parent families) across both sectors. - Partial retroactive application.
The new leave provisions will apply retroactively to births occurring on or after 2 August 2024. - Application procedure.
Requests to exercise the extended leave entitlements—either as a suspension of the employment contract or as paid parental leave—along with the corresponding benefit applications, can be submitted from 1 January 2026 onwards.
The adoption of Royal Decree-Law 9/2025 represents a significant step towards alignment of Spanish legislation fully with European standards on work-life balance. It represents a long-awaited milestone, particularly given the inadequacies of the unpaid parental leave introduced under Royal Decree-Law 5/2023.
From a legal and operational standpoint, the new framework introduces major changes. Companies will need to revise their HR policies and adapt their organisational structures to accommodate the updated regulatory environment, particularly regarding internal resource management and planning for employee absences.