MADRID: A Spanish court has ruled that a single mother has the right to the parental leave a partner would have been due if she had one, effectively doubling her leave, according to a decision seen by AFP on Thursday.
The unidentified woman asked to be given the 16 weeks of parental leave that would have been granted a partner, in addition to the 16 weeks she was entitled to, after she gave birth in January 2022 in the southeastern region of Murcia.
After social services rejected her request she turned to the courts.
Murcia’s high court ruled in her favour and said she was due a total of 32 weeks of parental week on the grounds that all children should be treated the same, according to a judgement dated January 9.
It noted a November ruling from Spain’s constitutional court that barred discrimination against children born into single-parent families.
“It seems indisputable that parents in single-parent families have, at least, the same reconciliation needs as parents in two-parent families,” the constitutional court wrote in its decision, which the regional court cited.
Denying a single parent the leave a partner would have been due gives children born into single-parent families “a substantially shorter period of parental care immediately after birth”, it said.
The consequences of this are “even more unjustified” given statistics showing that children from single-parent households are at higher risk of poverty, it added.
The regional court ruling is subject to appeal.
The woman will not be able to benefit from the extra parental leave now since she gave birth three years ago, but her lawyer told Spanish media he hopes she will be financially compensated for the leave she was denied.
