Sick leave due to menstrual pain in women, under medical prescription, is a measure that is formally difficult to find in Spanish companies. In some of them there are protocols and health services with a special projection on women, as is the case of Seat. In others, sick leave due to menstrual pain is not formally incorporated into any type of agreement or protocol, “but it is part of the company culture”, as the founder and CEO of the Catalan company Inginium underlines, gina aranregarding your own company.
Inginium It is a human resources consultancy where about twenty people work, most of them women. “When a person feels bad, they don’t come to work, either because they have the flu or because they have menstrual pain,” says businesswoman Gina Aran. “And when that happens, they’re not asked to make up time later, but that’s usually what happens,” she adds.
Globally, the example of the sports firm Nike as the first large multinational to assume menstrual sick leave within its labor relations protocol. The truth is that the code of conduct (‘code of conduct‘) adopted by Nike in November 2020, and which has made the Nike firm an example in this matter, the only thing it introduces is that “physical exams cannot be carried out to verify the eligibility of menstrual leave if it is a required benefit by local law”, as is already the case in certain countries, such as Japan.
Female health protection
In Spain, the clearest precedent is found in some municipalities, such as those of Girona, Sabadellor Castellon de la Plana, who have adopted menstrual sick leave for their employees. For the rest, in the absence of clear business examples inside and outside the country, what does exist in Spain are practical examples of companies where there is special consideration for specific ailments or disorders of women.
In seatsfor example, with the inauguration of the Health Care and Rehabilitation Center (CARS) in 2017, the gynecology service was launched within the company itself, on a voluntary, free and annual basis for all the women of Seat, Cupra and the companies of the Volkswagen Group in Spain. “This service came to cover an important gap in the women health prevention in relation to men, who have historically been undergoing early detection tests for prostate cancer”, explains Dr. Patricia Such, Seat health manager at CARS. In the five years of service, more than 2,500 women have been treated, in more than 6,500 visits; more than 58% of them did not use to have regular gynecological health check-ups. “Thanks to this program, it has been possible to detect more than 500 previously unknown pathologies, of which more than 100 were premalignant and/or cancerous, which could be treated early. Without this service, the impact on the health of the affected women, for their families, for the health system and for the company, it would have been enormous”, Dr. Such values.
In another automobile factory, in Ford Almussafes, each year the so-called ‘health week’ is scheduled in which, among other services, a specialist in gynecology attends to those employees who want to attend a check-up. In addition, there is an agreement with the IVO (Valencian Institute of Oncology) to carry out mammograms and cancer control for women over 45 years of age.
Prevention and conciliation
in the energetic naturgy, gynecological and breast check-ups, mammograms and gynecological ultrasounds are offered in external services, free of charge, to all female employees on an annual basis. An osteoporosis detection and monitoring campaign is also offered to all women in the perimenopausal period. In addition, the physical well-being platform available to employees offers specific content for women in terms of exercise, as well as dietary advice, mental health, etc. Additionally, in situations of pregnancy, postpartum or breastfeeding, Naturgy offers options for teleworking, adaptation of workstations or rooms for expressing milk during working hours (at the medical service facilities).
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In the also energetic Endesa There is an established protocol based on which its pregnant workers have the right to medical follow-up and to manage all rights related to occupational health. In addition to certain personal and work-life balance measures, it also seeks to adapt its functions to the pregnancy situation.
Along this same line, for example, Mercadona favors adding nursing leave to maternity leave, which, in practice, allows the latter to be extended by a month.