Spanish firms want to stop paying sick leave and hand control to mutuas

Spanish employers want to stop footing the bill for sick leave. A study by the Cámara de Comercio (Spain's Chamber of Commerce) says 80% of business owners are demanding a reform of the law.

Their proposal is to hand control of sick leave to the mutuas, the employer-funded mutual insurance bodies that manage workers' sickness cover. The stated goal is to curb absenteeism, meaning employees missing work.

There is a catch, though. The same study finds that 85% of employers admit they have not put preventive protocols in place. In other words, most want the rules changed, but few have set up their own measures to head off absences in the first place.

The figures show a gap between what companies are asking the law to do and what many are doing inside their own workplaces. For anyone in Spain who has ever taken a sick day, it is a debate worth watching.