Sick leave during your holidays in Spain: do you lose them or get them back?
If you fall ill or have an accident and the doctor signs you off on sick leave during your holidays (baja médica en vacaciones), you do not lose those days: under Spanish law, the Workers’ Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores) allows you to take them later, on other dates, even if the year has already ended. If the sick leave is due to pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding, or the holidays coincide with birth leave, there is no fixed time limit; if it is due to any other illness or accident, you have up to 18 months from the end of the year to which the holidays correspond.
What happens if I fall ill on holiday?
Holidays are for resting, and sick leave is for recovering from an illness. They are different purposes and one cannot “eat up” the other. That is why holiday days that coincide with a period of temporary incapacity (incapacidad temporal) are not treated as taken. In practice, this is what happens:
- While the sick leave lasts you are in a situation of temporary incapacity and you receive the corresponding benefit, not holiday pay.
- The holiday days that coincide with the sick leave remain outstanding.
- When you are signed fit for work (alta), you agree new dates with your employer to take them.
For this to work you need an official sick note: the temporary incapacity certificate (parte de incapacidad temporal) issued by the public health service doctor or, for accidents at work and occupational diseases, normally the mutual insurer (mutua). A note from a private consultation or from an emergency department is not in itself equivalent to sick leave, so if you fall ill, make an appointment at your health centre as soon as possible.
What Article 38.3 of the Workers’ Statute says
The rule is in Article 38.3 of the Workers’ Statute, which distinguishes two situations:
| Situation | What you can do | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Temporary incapacity arising from pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding, or holidays that coincide with birth and childcare leave or other suspensions of the contract referred to in the law | Take the holidays on another date, at the end of the sick leave or the leave, even if the calendar year has ended | Without the 18-month limit |
| Temporary incapacity for any other reason: common illness, non-work accident, accident at work or occupational disease | Take them when the sick leave ends, if you have been unable to take them, in whole or in part, during the year | 18 months from the end of the year in which they accrued |
An example of the second case: if a long period of sick leave prevents you from taking your 2026 holidays, the 18 months are counted from the end of 2026, so you can take them until 30 June 2028. If the sick leave continues beyond that date, in principle those days are lost; that is why it is worth keeping an eye on the calendar when the incapacity drags on.
Remember that the legal minimum is 30 calendar days of holiday a year (or more, if your collective agreement (convenio colectivo) or your contract improves on it) and that they cannot be exchanged for money while the contract is still in force. We go over the other minimums in the guide to workers’ employment rights.
Sick leave before your holidays start or in the middle of them
It makes no difference whether the sick leave begins before your departure date or on the third day of your holidays. The law refers to holidays that “coincide” with temporary incapacity, and the Court of Justice of the European Union made this clear in 2012 (case C-78/11, ANGED), following a question from the Spanish Supreme Court: anyone who falls ill during their holidays is entitled to take later the days that coincided with the sick leave.
- If the sick leave comes before and you are still off sick on the planned date, the holidays do not start: they are set again when you are signed fit for work.
- If the sick leave comes during the holidays, the days that coincide with it remain outstanding.
- If you are signed fit for work before they end, you take the remaining days of the planned period and later recover the ones you spent on sick leave.
What you recover is exactly the days that coincided with the sick leave, not the whole period. If you fall ill outside Spain, seek medical care, keep all the reports and contact your health centre or your mutua as soon as possible to find out how to prove the incapacity.
How to notify your employer and set the new dates
Since 1 April 2023 (Real Decreto 1060/2022) you no longer have to hand your employer the notes for sick leave, confirmation and return to work: the public health service or the mutua send them electronically and the company receives the information through Social Security. Even so, it is a good idea to do three things:
- Tell your employer that you are on sick leave as soon as you can, by a means that leaves a record, such as an email. Check whether your collective agreement sets a deadline for reporting absences.
- Ask in writing for the holiday days that coincide with the sick leave to remain outstanding and for new dates to be agreed once you are fit for work.
- Keep the notes you are given and your employer’s reply.
The new dates are agreed between you and your employer, like any other holiday period. If there is no agreement, the employment court (Juzgado de lo Social) sets them through an urgent procedure, and its decision cannot be appealed. The claim has short deadlines: 20 days from when you learn the date your employer has imposed on you or, if no date has been set, at least two months before the date on which you want to take them. For questions like this, an employment advice service can review your collective agreement and prepare the written request.
Difference from birth leave (the former maternity and paternity leave)
What used to be called maternity or paternity leave is now birth and childcare leave (permiso por nacimiento y cuidado de menor). It is not temporary incapacity but a suspension of the contract, and it is treated even more favourably: if it coincides with the holidays set in the company’s calendar, you can take them at the end of the leave, even if the year has ended, without the 18-month limit. The same applies to temporary incapacity arising from pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.
In practice, many people take their outstanding holidays straight after the leave. It is advisable to ask in writing in advance so that the company can make arrangements and there is a record of the request.
Other common situations
If the contract ends before you have been able to take them
Holidays accrued and not taken are not lost when the employment relationship ends: in general, they are paid in the final settlement (finiquito). Check that they appear before signing it.
If you are dismissed while on sick leave
Being on sick leave does not prevent the company from dismissing you, but it needs a genuine reason. Since Ley 15/2022, illness or a health condition has been a prohibited ground of discrimination, so a dismissal motivated by the sick leave itself may be declared null and void (nulo). The deadline to challenge it is 20 working days; we explain it on the dismissal lawyer page. If the company alleges misconduct on your part, go over the grounds for disciplinary dismissal.
If the company treats the sick leave days as holiday taken
It should not do so if the sick leave is backed by the official note. Complain in writing and, if it does not put it right, consider with a professional a claim to have the holiday dates set before the deadlines pass.
When it is worth consulting an employment lawyer
Most of these cases are resolved by talking to the employer. It is worth seeking advice if the company refuses to give you new dates, if the sick leave is long and the 18-month limit is approaching, if the contract ends and you are not paid for the holidays, or if the sick leave ends in a dismissal. If you are in any of those situations, you can tell an employment lawyer about your case and we will put you in touch with an English-speaking specialist who will go through it with you.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to give my employer the sick note if I am on holiday?
No. Since 1 April 2023, the public health service or the mutua send the notes electronically and the company receives them through Social Security. Even so, it is a good idea to tell your employer in writing and ask for those days to remain outstanding.
Can my employer refuse to give me other holiday dates?
It cannot treat the days you spent on sick leave as taken. The new dates are agreed between both parties and, if there is no agreement, the employment court sets them in an urgent procedure with short deadlines.
Do I keep accruing holiday while I am on sick leave?
In general, yes: according to European and Spanish case law, time on temporary incapacity counts towards accruing holiday. What the law limits is the period for taking it: 18 months from the end of the year for sick leave due to common illness or accident.
What if I was ill for a couple of days but did not go to the doctor?
Without an official sick note there is no temporary incapacity, so, in general, those days count as holiday taken. If you fall ill, go to your health centre so that the doctor can assess whether sick leave is appropriate.
