The consultation analyzes the nature of Saturdays for the purpose of enjoying the permit for death, accident or serious illness of a family member.

The consolidated text of the Law on the Basic Status of Public Employees (hereinafter TRLEBEP), approved by Royal Legislative Decree 5/2015, of 30 October, provides in its article 48(a):

" (a) By serious accident or illness, hospitalization or surgical intervention without hospitalization that requires the domiciliary rest of the spouse, domestic partner or relatives up to the first degree for consanguinity or affinity, as well as of any other person other than the previous ones who lives with the official or official in the same domicile and who requires the effective care of the latter, five working days.

In the case of a serious accident or illness, hospitalization or surgical intervention without hospitalization requiring home rest, of a relative within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity, the leave shall be four working days.

In the case of death of the spouse, domestic partner or relative within the first degree of consanguinity or affinity, three working days when the event occurs in the same locality, and five working days, when it is in another locality. In the case of the death of a relative within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity, the permit will be two working days when it occurs in the same locality and four working days when it is in another locality.”

In accordance with the provisions of that article, officials shall be entitled to the enjoyment of the permit on the number of working days which, where appropriate, occur when the legal cause that motivates it occurs, and the days of enjoyment shall be those immediately subsequent to the causative act, without counting, for that purpose, the unskilled and festive.

However, with regard to the consideration of Saturdays as non-working days, for the purposes of the enjoyment of the aforementioned permits, we must resort to the provisions of the Resolution of February 28, 2019, of the Secretary of State for Public Service, which dictates instructions on working hours and hours of staff in the service of the General Administration of the State and its public agencies.

In particular, in paragraph 14 referring to the ‘Computation of permits’ it is indicated:

“14.1 The operating system of the work centres of the General Administration of the State and its Public Bodies, related or dependent, the organization of working time, and the working hours and hours of the personnel at their service, shall be governed by their specific regulations without applying, for this purpose, the provisions on working or non-working days for the calculation of deadlines in the administrative procedures contained in Law 39/2015, of 1 October.

The consideration of a working or unworking day for the purposes of the fulfillment of the different days and times in the General Administration of the State and in its Public Bodies, linked or dependent, will be determined by its own regulation, contained in this Resolution, as well as in the work schedules or other instruments that in the development and application of it are approved.

14.2 For the calculation of the permits whose duration is established in working days, the timetable and timetable that corresponds to the holder of the permit will be taken into account.

In this sense, on Saturdays, Sundays or the days declared festive, they will count only when they are part of the day and time that corresponds to the holder of the permit.

14.3 For the enjoyment of permits whose duration is fixed in days, when the regulation does not indicate that they are working days, it will be understood that they are natural days, including both working days and non-working days in their count.

In permits whose duration is fixed in weeks or months, it will be understood that they are calendar days, including in their computation both working days and non-working days.”

In conclusion, for the computation of the permits whose duration is established in working days, the schedule and time regime that corresponds to the owner of the permit will be taken into account.

In this sense, on Saturdays, Sundays or the days declared festive, they will count only when they are part of the day and time that corresponds to the holder of the permit.

All of the above is without prejudice to remember 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, do not have the character of a binding criterion, nor do they give rise to rights or expectations of law, nor do they imply any link with the type of procedures to which they refer. In addition, since they are not mandatory or binding, the bodies to which such replies are addressed may, where appropriate, finally take a decision that does not correspond to the opinion contained therein.

The answers to queries contained in this bulletin deal with the issues raised in the light of the regulations in force at the time of their issuance, so that these answers may be affected by subsequent legislative changes or judicial resolutions.