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Spain considers work bereavement leave for employees who lose a pet
Nine million homes across Spain could benefit as experts say pet grief is as real as losing a family member
Anyone who's ever lost a pet knows how hard it is o carry on as ‘normal’. That gut-wrenching grief that hits you at your desk, the struggle to concentrate on emails when your mind keeps wandering to the empty bed or the food bowl you can't bring yourself to put away.
Right now, if you're dealing with a sick or dying pet in Spain, you're basically on your own. Maybe you can swing a personal day, perhaps you'll call in sick, or you'll just drag yourself into work and try to pretend everything's fine when it absolutely isn't.
That could all be about to change. A new proposal making its way through the system would give workers in Spain actual, proper paid leave when their pet dies or becomes seriously ill.
CoPPA, the Coordinating Body of Professionals for the Prevention of Abuse, has submitted a legislative proposal that would amend several key laws to recognise bereavement leave for pets. They've already presented the idea to the Ministry of Labour and various parliamentary groups and the feedback so far is really positive.
Nearly nine million Spanish homes have pets that are fully integrated into daily life, routines and emotional wellbeing. Yet when something goes wrong, labour law pretends none of it exists.
María González Lacabez, a lawyer and legal advisor for CoPPA in Spain, explains that “we can undoubtedly speak of a grieving process for the loss of an animal, similar to that which occurs with the loss of family members or friends.”
Elsa Alonso, a psychiatrist specialising in grief and a CoPPA member, points out that "the death of a beloved pet can have a serious negative impact on the people who lived with it. Numerous studies have shown that this loss can generate emotional, social and cognitive disturbances that significantly affect mental health and work performance."
Anxiety, insomnia, changes in appetite and difficulty concentrating are all well documented reactions to losing a pet, and the experts agree that the lack of official recognition can actually result in more absences from work in the long run.
The proposal would make adjustments to four key pieces of legislation, including the Workers' Statute and the Basic Statute of Public Employees. The goal is to create a proper legal framework that acknowledges people have a legal duty to care for their animals and that this sometimes conflicts with work obligations.
Pushing their case forward, CoPPA has pointed out that responsible pet ownership is already a legal obligation in Spain. If you're legally required to care for your animal, surely you should be able to do so without risking your job or burning through holiday days that you'd earmarked for an actual break.
Spain wouldn't be breaking entirely new ground here, either. Countries like Chile and Colombia currently have similar proposals under consideration, though nothing's been finalised yet. However, it's an indication that this issue is making its way onto the public and legal agenda across multiple countries.
For now, the proposal is working its way through the system. If it moves forward, grieving for an animal would stop being something you have manage in your spare time. It would instead become a recognised reality with actual legal protections, acknowledging what millions of pet owners already know, that the bond with an animal is real, the grief is real and pretending otherwise helps nobody.
Image: Freepik
