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Leave, the convenio, and the clock
Elena's answers depend on a document Alex has never read: the convenio colectivo from lesson 106. In Spain the law sets minimums, and the sector agreement often improves them. The Estatuto de los Trabajadores, the basic employment law, guarantees at least thirty calendar days of paid vacation a year and a list of paid permisos for life events: marriage, the birth of a child, a move of house, the serious illness or death of a close relative, often with extra days if travel is involved. The exact days for each case have changed with recent reforms and vary by convenio, which is why Elena cites the agreement rather than the law, and why anyone working in Spain should ask HR rather than rely on what a friend in another company gets. Vacation rules are a common surprise. Unused days normally do not carry over indefinitely; they must be taken within the year or by a deadline set in the agreement, with exceptions when the company prevented you from taking them, as Alex's December was. Personal days, días de libre disposición or días de asuntos propios, are a feature of many agreements and the public sector. Unpaid leave can usually be negotiated, and longer absences have a legal form, the excedencia, which in some cases, such as caring for children or relatives, is a right. Since 2019 Spanish employers must also keep a daily registro de jornada recording when each employee starts and finishes work. In offices this often means an app or a card to fichar, and it was introduced partly to make unpaid overtime visible. It is one of the clearest signs of how seriously Spanish labor law treats working time, and one of the first things a newcomer meets.