Spain passes law to give workers paid leave for period pain in European first

Spain has passed a law allowing those with painful periods to take paid “menstrual leave” from work, in a European first.

The leave will be funded 100 per cent by the state.

Requiring a doctor’s note, the law gives the right to a three-day absence - with the possibility of extending it to five days - for workers with disabling periods, which can cause severe cramps, nausea, dizziness and vomiting.

Spain’s equality minister, Irene Montero, hailed the passing of the law as “a historic day of progress in feminist rights”.

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