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Royal Decree-Law 10/2020, of March 29, which regulates a recoverable paid leave for employed persons who do not provide essential services

29th March 2020


Royal Decree-Law 10/2020, of March 29, which regulates a recoverable paid leave for employed persons who do not provide essential services, in order to reduce the mobility of the population in the context of fight against COVID-19.


Today it has been officially announced that new measures need to be taken to restrict the movement of workers in order to minimize the risks of COVID-19 from spreading further.


This royal decree-law will apply to all employed persons who provide services in companies or entities of the public or private sector and whose activity has not been forced to close as a result of the declaration of a state of emergency established by Royal Decree 463 / 2020, 14th March.


All businesses that are unable to interrupt their business activity immediately will be able to use Monday 30th March to organize their jobs, which will have to be suspended until the 9th April inclusive.

The Government has created an obligation to businesses to grant their staff, paid leave from their jobs as from 30th March until the 9th April, these hours are to be recovered from when they return to their workplace until the 31st December 2020. This measure is compatible with those businesses that have applied a reduction of hours via en ERTE.

Companies that must apply the recoverable paid leave regulated in this article may, if necessary, establish the minimum number of staff or strictly essential work shifts in order to maintain the essential activity. This activity and this minimum number of staff or shifts will be what are held on an ordinary weekend or on fiestas.

Therefore this measure is applied to all businesses that were not forced to close when the State of Emergency was published, with the exception of those that lend essential services listed below:

  1. Workers for retail (food, beverage, essential goods and products), pharmaceutical, medical, optical and orthopedic establishments, hygiene products, press and stationery, automotive fuel, tobacconists,
    technological and telecommunications equipment, animal feed company, internet commerce, telephone or correspondence, dry cleaners and laundries.
  2. Those that work in the activities that participate in the market supply chain and in the operation of the services of the production centers of basic goods and services, including food, beverages, animal feed, hygienic products, medicines, sanitary products or any product necessary for the protection of health, allowing the distribution of the same from the origin to the final destination.
  3. Those that provide services in the hotel and restaurant activities that provide home delivery services.
  4. Those that provide services in the chain of production and distribution of goods, services, sanitary technology, medical material, protective equipment, sanitary and hospital equipment and any other
    materials necessary for the provision of sanitary services.
  5. Those services that are essential for maintaining production in the manufacturing industry, like those that offer the supplies, equipment and materials necessary for the correct development of the essential
    activities included in this list.
  6. Those that carry out transport services, both for people and goods, that continue to be developed since the declaration of the state of alarm, as well as those that must ensure the maintenance of the means used for it, under the regulations approved by the competent authority and the delegated competent authorities since the declaration of the state of alarm.
  7. Those that provide services in Penitentiary Institutions, civil protection, maritime rescue, rescue and prevention and extinction of fires, mine safety, and traffic and road safety. Likewise, those that work in private security companies that provide security transport services, response to alarms, round-trip or discontinuous surveillance, and those that are necessary to use for the performance of security services in guarantee of essential services and supplying the population.
  8. The indispensable ones that support the maintenance of the material and equipment of the armed forces.
  9. Those of health centers, services and establishments, as well as people who (i) serve the elderly, minors, dependents or people with disabilities, and people who work in companies, R&D and biotechnology centers linked to COVID-19, (ii) the animal facilities associated with them, (iii) the maintenance of the minimum services of the facilities associated with them and the companies supplying the products necessary for said investigation, and (iv) the people who work in funeral services and other related activities.
  10. Those of animal health centers, services and establishments.
  11. Those that provide services in points of sale of the press and in the media or news agencies of public and private ownership, as well as in their printing or distribution.
  12. Those of financial services companies, including banking, insurance and investment companies, for the provision of essential services, and the activities of payment infrastructures and financial markets.
  13. Those of telecommunications and audiovisual companies and essential computer services, as well as those networks and facilities that support them and the sectors or subsectors necessary for their proper functioning, especially those that are essential for the adequate provision of public services, as well such as the non-attendance work of public employees.
  14. Those that provide services related to the protection and care of victims of gender violence.
  15. Those who work as lawyers, attorneys, social security/employment advisers, translators, interpreters and psychologists and who attend to procedural proceedings not suspended by Royal Decree 463/2020, of March 14, declaring the state of alarm for the management of the health crisis situation caused by COVID-19.
  16. Those that provide services in law firms and legal advisory services, administrative agencies and social security/employment advisers, and third-party and own occupational risk prevention services, in urgent matters.
  17. Those that provide services in the notaries and registries for the fulfillment of the essential services set by the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith.
  18. Those that provide cleaning, maintenance, urgent breakdown repair and surveillance services, as well as providing services in the collection, management and treatment of hazardous waste, as well as urban solid, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, collection and treatment wastewater, decontamination activities and other waste management services and transport and removal of byproducts or any of the entities belonging to the Public Sector, in accordance with the provisions of article 3 of Law 9/2017, of 8 of November, Public Sector Contracts.
  19. Those who work in the Refugee Reception Centers and in the Temporary Stay Centers for Immigrants and public entities of private management subsidized by the Secretary of State for Migration and that operate within the framework of International Protection and Care Humanitarian.
  20. Those who work in water supply, purification, conduction, purification and sanitation activities.
  21. Those that are essential for the provision of meteorological forecasting and observation services and the associated processes of maintenance, surveillance and control of operational processes.
  22. Those of the operator designated by the State to provide the universal postal service, in order to provide collection, admission, transport, classification, distribution and delivery services for the sole purpose of guaranteeing said universal postal service.
  23. Those that provide services in those sectors or subsectors that participate in the import and supply of sanitary material, such as logistics, transport, warehousing, customs transit (freight forwarders) companies and, in general, all those that participate in sanitary corridors .
  24. Those who work in the distribution and delivery of products purchased in commerce by internet, telephone or correspondence.
  25. Any others that provide services that have been considered essential.