New sick leave for menopause and gender-based violence starting in December

The Council of Ministers on October 20 approved Royal Decree-Law 31/2026, for the improvement of the protective action of Social Security and other social regulations, which creates two new special cases of temporary disability: limiting pathology due to coded secondary menopausal disorder and injuries derived from gender-based violence. The regulation, sanctioned by King Felipe VI and signed by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) no. 261, of October 21, 2026, with reference BOE-A-2026-21872.

The text is approved at the proposal of the Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, the Minister of the Interior, and the Ministers of Labor and Social Economy and Equality, and modifies the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law (Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of October 30), as well as other labor and passive class regulations. The Government justifies the use of the decree-law on the grounds that “the absence of adequate specific regulation compromises the effectiveness of the system’s protective action” and may generate situations of lack of protection that require immediate intervention.

The new sick leaves are integrated into article 169.1.a) along with the special situations already in force: incapacitating secondary menstruation, termination of pregnancy, gestation from the first day of the thirty-ninth week, and donation of organs or tissues for transplant. For the first, third, fourth, and fifth cases, minimum contribution periods will not be required.

Two new sick leaves with the common illness subsidy

• Secondary menopausal disorder: the woman must receive healthcare from the Public Health Service and be unable to work as a consequence of that pathology, which the physician will identify through the corresponding coding.
• Injuries from gender-based violence: it is required that, before the medical discharge for cure or improvement, official health communication documents to the Prosecutor’s Office or the judicial body, a protection order, a resolution with a precautionary measure, a report from the Public Prosecutor’s Office with evidence of gender-based violence, or a conviction sentence have been issued.

In both cases, the subsidy is equivalent to that of temporary disability for common contingencies and is paid from the day following the sick leave by the managing or collaborating entity, while the company assumes the full salary for the day of the leave. The regulation also incorporates a 75 percent reduction in employer contributions for common contingencies during the leave of workers who have reached 62 years of age.

Minors with cancer: without hospital admission and with two caregivers

The benefit for the care of minors under 18 affected by cancer or another serious illness will now be recognized even if there is no hospital admission, provided that medical treatments of equal intensity are required. It is maintained until age 23, up to age 26 if a disability equal to or greater than 65 percent is proven and, exceptionally, beyond age 26 with that degree of disability or grade III dependency.

Both parents or caregivers may receive it alternatively or simultaneously; in the case of simultaneous enjoyment, each will receive 50 percent of their regulatory base. The reduction of working hours under article 37.6 of the Workers’ Statute is extended under the same terms and may be accumulated into full working days via collective agreement.

Other approved social measures

• Extraordinary pensions for acts of terrorism: the minimum amount increases from triple the IPREM to double the monthly SMI.
• Widowhood for domestic partners with common children: it is sufficient to prove two years of stable coexistence with a census registration certificate.
• Orphanhood due to violence against women: minimum monthly amount equivalent to double the SMI.
• Child Support Payment Guarantee Fund: maximum advance of 300 euros per month and income limit set at the SMI.
• Compensation for victims of terrorism without a criminal sentence: up to 500,000 euros in cases of death.

Application calendar

• October 21, 2026: entry into force, on the day of its publication.
• October 23, 2026: effects on the benefit for the care of minors and on the reduction of working hours.
• November 1, 2026: new minimum amount for extraordinary terrorism pensions.
• December 1, 2026: effects of the new special cases of temporary disability, applicable to processes initiated from then on.
• January 1, 2027: changes in the contributions of self-employed workers.

The regulation affects employees and self-employed workers, civil servants, and statutory personnel, as the special situations extend to special regimes, the Armed Forces, the Administration of Justice, and State civil servants. For companies, it entails assuming the salary of the day of leave in the new cases and adapting their temporary disability circuits before December 1, the date on which leave for menopause and gender-based violence may be processed with specific coverage.

Source: Official State Gazette, no. 261, October 21, 2026, Sec. I. General Provisions, page 140219 (official reference: BOE-A-2026-21872).