Permission for very serious illness of first-degree relative.

The consultation is about the regulation of the permit to request a reduction in the working day for the care of a first-degree relative due to serious illness.

Article 48.i) of the consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Statute of the Public Employee (TRLEBEP), approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October, establishes a permit consisting of a reduction of up to fifty percent, of a paid nature, to attend the care of a family member in the first degree, due to very serious illness, for the maximum period of one month, in the following terms:

“(i) If the care of a first-degree relative is necessary, the official shall be entitled to request a reduction of up to fifty per cent of the working day, on a remunerated basis, for reasons of very serious illness and for a maximum period of one month.

If there is more than one holder of this right for the same causative act, the time of enjoyment of this reduction may be prorated among them, respecting in any case, the maximum period of one month.”

In relation to this permit, in general, this Management Center has been understanding that its concession proceeds only once per pathological process and per causative subject.

In this sense, if it is a new process, although it could be due to the same disease, the granting of a new permit would proceed. On the contrary, in the case of a relapse understood as a continuation of the same pathological process, the Law does not expressly foresee such circumstance, and therefore, on the one hand, the interest of the Administration, which in its material aspect will be given by the needs of the service, and, on the other, that of the official who requests the granting of the permit, will have to be weighed. In this case, it must be the competent body for the granting of the permit which, in the light of the concurrent circumstances, must take the measures it deems most appropriate in order to prevent an abuse of the permit.

On the other hand, the concept of “very serious illness” can be described as an undetermined legal concept, so it needs further clarification based on the medical reports presented, concurrent circumstances and other documentation presented by the interested party. Thus, it must be said unit that, according to the circumstances and information provided, decides on the granting or refusal of such permission.

In this way, the objective and subjective circumstances that concur in each case must be assessed, such as the age, physical condition of the patient or the risk to his life, among others, to consider a very serious disease or not.

In this regard, and for the purpose of justifying the seriousness of the disease, it is up to the body responsible for granting the permit to determine the means of proof admissible in law that allow such accreditation, in order to verify the concurrence of the factual event covered by the permit.

All of the foregoing is without prejudice to recalling that, according to the regime of competences of this management center, the answers to queries issued by this general directorate are merely informative and, consequently, are not of a binding criterion, nor do they give rise to rights or expectations of law, nor imply any link with the type of procedures to which they refer. Furthermore, in the absence of a mandatory or binding nature, the bodies receiving such replies may, where appropriate, finally take a decision that does not correspond to the opinion contained therein.

The responses to queries contained in this bulletin address the issues raised in the light of the regulations in force at the time of their issuance, so that such responses may be affected by subsequent legislative changes or judicial decisions.