Christmas with a domestic worker in Spain: 2026-27 public holidays and what happens if she works on the 25th
Public holidays from 7 December 2026 to 6 January 2027 in each Spanish region, what you owe a domestic worker who works one, what changes for a live-in or an hourly worker, and why Christmas leave decided in November has to be agreed with her.
By Isabella Velletri, Founder of Maids & Co
Published on 9 min read
In short
Spain's Christmas public holidays 2026-27 by region
The table lists the national and regional holidays for the period (local ones below), from the Directorate-General for Labour resolutions for 2026 (BOE-A-2025-21667) and 2027 (BOE-A-2026-21254), the latter published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on 13 October 2026.
| Region | Mon 7 Dec | Tue 8 Dec | Fri 25 Dec | Sat 26 Dec | Fri 1 Jan | Wed 6 Jan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madrid region | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Andalusia | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Catalonia | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (except Aran) | Yes | Yes |
| Balearic Islands | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Valencia region | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Basque Country | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Aragon, Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and León, Extremadura, Murcia, La Rioja and Melilla | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Canary Islands, Castile-La Mancha, Galicia, Navarre and Ceuta | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
7 December exists because Constitution Day, the 6th, falls on a Sunday in 2026. When a national holiday falls on a Sunday, the day off moves to the Monday, but each region may replace that Monday with a holiday of its own (Royal Decree 2001/1983, art. 45), which is why only nine regions and Melilla keep it. St Stephen's Day, the 26th, is a regional holiday in Catalonia and the Balearics; in the Aran Valley it is replaced by 17 June.
24 and 31 December are not national or regional holidays: barring a local holiday, they are ordinary working days.
Your town's two local holidays
On top of these come up to two local holidays per municipality, set by the labour authority at the town council's proposal and published in the official gazette of the region or province (Royal Decree 2001/1983, art. 46). The yearly total cannot exceed 14 (Workers' Statute, art. 37.2). Check that gazette, or your town council's website, for any between 7 December and 6 January.
Does a live-in worker have to work on public holidays?
No, unless working one is agreed and compensated. Article 9.6 of Royal Decree 1620/2011, the rules for domestic employment, gives every household worker, live-in or not, the public holidays of article 37 of the Workers' Statute (Estatuto de los Trabajadores), which makes them paid and not to be made up: she does not work, is paid as usual and owes no hours later.
Living in the house does not put her on call. Once her working day and any agreed on-call time are over, she is not required to stay in the family home (art. 9.1), and on a public holiday there is no working day. If you ask her to serve Christmas lunch on the 25th, she is working a public holiday.
Public holidays are separate from her weekly rest: 36 consecutive hours which, as a rule, cover Saturday afternoon or Monday morning plus the whole of Sunday (art. 9.5). 25 December 2026 and 1 January 2027 fall on a Friday. If her weekly rest is Saturday afternoon plus Sunday, she is off from Friday to Sunday except Saturday morning; if it is Sunday plus Monday morning, she works Saturday and is off from Sunday into Monday morning. In Catalonia and the Balearics Saturday the 26th is a holiday too.
Our page on live-in housekeepers in Spain shows how to plan her week around these rest periods.
Working on a public holiday: at least 75% extra per hour
The rule is article 47 of Royal Decree 2001/1983, still in force (Royal Decree 1561/1995 repealed the rest but kept articles 45 to 47). It reaches domestic work as general employment law, supplementary under article 3.b of Royal Decree 1620/2011. Where a holiday cannot be taken, "exceptionally and for technical or organisational reasons", the employer must pay, on top of the week's pay, the hours worked that day "increased by 75 per cent, as a minimum, unless compensatory rest" is given (our translation).
There are two ways to comply. Either pay that day's hours with a surcharge of at least 75%, on top of her normal monthly pay (if her ordinary hour is worth €10 and she works 6 hours on 25 December, she is owed at least €105: 6 × 10 × 1.75), or give her rest in exchange. The decree does not say when that rest must be taken, so agree it in advance and in writing.
75% is a floor: you can agree more.
If a live-in works at the weekend
The same rule covers her weekly rest: article 47 also applies to "the weekly rest period" that cannot be taken (our translation). If she works during the 36 hours she should have off (art. 9.5), each hour is paid at least 75% extra or offset with time off. A weekend worked is not settled with a tip.
The decree does not say how to work out the ordinary hourly value for someone paid monthly. A common way is to spread the two extra payments over 12 months and divide by the hours in a month at 40 hours a week, about 173.33 (40 × 52 ÷ 12). On €1,300 a month in 14 payments, that is €1,516.67 a month and €8.75 an hour. If she works 6 hours on the Sunday she should have off, she is owed at least €91.88 (6 × 8.75 × 1.75): the floor is that 75%.
Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve: normal days, with limits
24 and 31 December are working days, but a long dinner does not remove the limits: 40 hours of actual work a week at most, and 12 hours between one working day and the next, which for a live-in can be cut to 10 if made up within four weeks (arts. 9.1 and 9.4). Hours beyond 40 follow the rules on overtime for domestic workers (art. 9.3). And if dinner on the 31st runs past midnight, those hours belong to 1 January, a public holiday.
Hourly workers and public holidays
It depends on how her pay was agreed. On a fixed monthly amount for set weekly hours, the holiday is included: she is paid the same that month and does not make up the hours (Workers' Statute, art. 37.2).
If she is paid per hour worked, the rule is different. The 2026 minimum hourly rate for domestic work (SMI), €9.55, is paid in proportion to the hours actually worked and "includes all pay items" (Royal Decree 126/2026, art. 4.2; Royal Decree 1620/2011, art. 8.5). SMI stands for salario mínimo interprofesional, the statutory minimum. The hourly rate is modelled on the minimum for short temporary workers, which builds in "the proportional share of pay for Sundays and public holidays" (art. 4.1). At that rate, or a higher one if the contract says it is all-inclusive, a holiday she does not work is not paid separately: it is already spread across each hour. If the rate is higher and the contract is silent, that is debatable: clarify it in writing.
If she comes in on a holiday because you ask her to, the same 75% rule applies: at €12 an hour, each hour that day costs at least €21. Our page on hourly domestic staff summarises the hourly minimum and Social Security (Seguridad Social) registration from the first hour.
Christmas annual leave: the two-month rule
She has 30 calendar days of annual leave a year, on dates agreed between you. Failing agreement, the family may set only 15 and she chooses the rest, but "in this case, the dates must be known two months before" the leave starts (Royal Decree 1620/2011, art. 9.7).
The practical upshot, if you decide now: counting from 9 November 2026, leave set by the family without her agreement cannot start before 9 January 2027. Leave over Christmas has to be agreed with her, in writing and with exact dates. If she does not agree, those days are normal working days, except the holidays.
For Christmas 2027 the sum works backwards: to set 15 days yourself from Monday 20 December 2027, tell her by 20 October 2027 at the latest.
For new contracts of more than four weeks, since 5 October 2026 the written statement required by Royal Decree 723/2026 must state the length of annual leave and the procedure for setting its dates (art. 3.2.g). How leave accrues and how untaken days are paid is covered in domestic worker holiday entitlement in Spain.
If the family travels over Christmas
If you go away and do not need her, the contract carries on. Without her agreement those days cannot become her annual leave, because of the two-month rule above. And the general rule in article 30 of the Workers' Statute, which applies on a supplementary basis, is that if she cannot work because of obstacles attributable to the employer, she keeps her pay and cannot be made to make it up with work at another time.
If she travels with you, the home rules still apply: 40 hours a week, rest periods and public holidays (art. 9). Royal Decree 1620/2011 covers the family home moving to another town (art. 10.2) but has no specific rule on a trip with the family, nor does it say which holiday calendar applies elsewhere. Agree hours, days off and which holidays she takes in writing beforehand.
What the decree does say: during her annual leave she is not obliged to live in the family home "or wherever the family or any of its members travels" (art. 9.7, our translation).
The December extra payment and Christmas gifts
The Christmas extra payment is not a gift: it is one of two compulsory extra payments a year. Unless agreed otherwise, it is paid at the end of the half-year, in proportion to the time worked from July to December, and it must guarantee the statutory annual minimum in cash (Royal Decree 1620/2011, art. 8.4). At the 2026 minimum, full time and in 14 payments, it is €1,221 (Royal Decree 126/2026). If the extra payments are spread across the 12 months, or she is paid by the hour at the minimum, it is already included. Worked examples are in extra payments for a domestic worker in Spain.
To see December's figures with the extra payment included, use the domestic worker payslip calculator.
A Christmas bonus, a hamper or a present is something else: no rule of domestic employment requires it, so it is voluntary and does not replace the extra payment.
If you would rather not keep track of holidays, leave and extra payments, Maids & Co's labour and legal assistance team tracks holiday entitlement, the two extra annual payments and the rest periods owed to the worker, and advises you throughout the employment relationship.
Information updated in November 2026. It does not replace personalised employment advice.
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Frequently asked questions
- Is Christmas Eve a public holiday for domestic workers in Spain?
- No. Neither 24 nor 31 December appears in the 2026 official calendar published in the BOE, so, barring a local holiday in your town, both are ordinary working days. Giving her the afternoon off is a voluntary extra. Any hours worked after midnight on the 31st already count as work on a public holiday, because they fall on 1 January.
- How much do I pay my domestic worker for working on Christmas Day?
- Each hour worked that day is paid at least 75% above her ordinary hourly pay, on top of her normal monthly pay, unless she gets compensatory rest instead (Royal Decree 2001/1983, art. 47). With an ordinary hour worth €10, four hours on 25 December come to at least €70.
- How much do I pay a live-in worker for working at the weekend?
- Hours she works during her 36-hour weekly rest are paid at least 75% above her ordinary hourly pay, unless she gets compensatory rest instead (Royal Decree 2001/1983, art. 47). On €1,300 a month in 14 payments, with the extra payments spread in and the hour worked out over about 173.33 hours a month, 6 hours on a Sunday come to at least €91.88.
- Can I make my domestic worker take her annual leave over Christmas?
- Without her agreement you can only set 15 days, and she must know the dates two months in advance (Royal Decree 1620/2011, art. 9.7). Decided in November, that deadline no longer reaches Christmas 2026: you need her agreement, ideally in writing with the dates.
- What happens if an hourly worker's usual day falls on a public holiday?
- She does not come in and does not make up the hours. On a fixed monthly amount, she is paid the same that month. Paid per hour at the €9.55 minimum, which includes all pay items, the holiday is not paid separately (Royal Decree 126/2026, art. 4.2). At a higher rate, it depends on the contract.
- Do I still pay her if the family goes away for Christmas?
- Yes. The contract remains in force and, if she cannot work because you give her no work, she keeps her pay and cannot be required to make up those hours later (Workers' Statute, art. 30, applied on a supplementary basis). Nor can those days be imposed as her annual leave without two months' notice.
Unsure about a term?See the domestic employment glossary
