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  3. Law: Contract(s)

Días de libre disposición

English translation: Discretionary days off

18:35 Jul 25, 2021
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Law: Contract(s) / Time off
Spanish term or phrase: Días de libre disposición
SPAIN. This appears in an employment contract for research workers. I know what it means (time off which can be taken freely, as required by the employee), but am rather stuck in the most succinct way to word the heading. All suggestions welcome.

Días de libre disposición: Todo el personal podrá, durante cada ejercicio, disfrutar de tres días de libre disposición por año (uno por cuatrimestre contratado), que no podrán unirse a días de vacaciones.
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 19:40
English translation:Discretionary days off
Explanation:
I'd just say that for the UK; some employers give 3/4 discretionary days off per year for employees to pursue charitable activities, such as working in day centres for the homeless, or drug / alcohol rehab centres.
I wouldn't uses "personal days" for a UK target audience, to be honest;
Selected response from:

Andrew Bramhall
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:40
Grading comment
My colleague was calling this "free disposal days", which turns out to be about recycling junk free of charge. "Discretionary" will do nicely for this Document, although I wouldn't rule out "personal days" on other occasions.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4Personal days
Robert Carter
4Discretionary days off
Andrew Bramhall
4leave days
Francois Boye
3 +1extra days off work
Lisa Rosengard
3 -2Spare days
Adrian MM.


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
Personal days


Explanation:
In the US they're called "personal days", and I think it's also gaining usage in the UK.

"As an employee, it is important that you make use of the benefits provided to you by your company. Some of these benefits may include personal time off or personal days.
...
What are personal days at work?
Personal days are a form of employee benefit that employers offer in addition to sick days, PTO and vacation days."
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/pers...

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Note added at 15 mins (2021-07-25 18:50:08 GMT)
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"HR Guide: Personal Days - North Ayrshire Councilhttps://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk › Documents
PDF
Personal Days allow an employee to take up to three days of their annual ... Line manager emails [email protected] advising of ..."

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Note added at 34 mins (2021-07-25 19:10:00 GMT)
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Here's the relevant text from the North Ayrshire Council document I was trying to link to:

"Personal Days allow an employee to take up to three days of their annual leave entitlement (per leave year) at short notice. The needs of the service and the possible costs associated with cover arrangements must be considered by the manager prior to authorisation and there is no guarantee that requests can be accommodated. Employees do not require to provide details of the reason for the request.
Examples of Personal Days
• Unplanned personal or private matters
• Illness of dependent (e.g. whole day is needed to provide care and the paid time off is not covered by Special Leave)
• Feeling under the weather and preferring not to come to work
• Emergency situation (e.g. car/boiler breakdown where employee wants to make repair arrangements
• Severe weather conditions where employee prefers not to travel (out with the Adverse Weather Policy)
Personal days are not an additional entitlement to annual leave but a way of requesting leave at short notice. Personal days are deducted from the employee’s annual leave entitlement as normal."

Robert Carter
Mexico
Local time: 11:40
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 558
Notes to answerer
Asker: You always had me at Ayrshire, and we do use a lot of Americanisms in the West of Scotland, but this time I'm going for discretionary…


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  ormiston: To my ears. Time/days off in your link) sounds better
13 mins
  -> Thanks, Ormiston. I think time/days off is perhaps a more general term that includes holidays/vacations. This seems to be a subset of the "time off" category.
agree  Katarina Peters
40 mins
  -> Thanks, Katerina.
neutral  AllegroTrans: Never heard of "personal days" in UK
5 hrs
  -> Thanks, Chris. The reference I posted is from the UK, and as Phil says, there are plenty of others.
agree  philgoddard: I found plenty of UK hits.
23 hrs
  -> Thanks, Phil, yes, I don't think it's specific to the US anymore.
agree  Shilpa Baliga: I have seen this plenty of times in UK English.
2 days 16 hrs
  -> Thanks, Shilpa.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Discretionary days off


Explanation:
I'd just say that for the UK; some employers give 3/4 discretionary days off per year for employees to pursue charitable activities, such as working in day centres for the homeless, or drug / alcohol rehab centres.
I wouldn't uses "personal days" for a UK target audience, to be honest;

Andrew Bramhall
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:40
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 68
Grading comment
My colleague was calling this "free disposal days", which turns out to be about recycling junk free of charge. "Discretionary" will do nicely for this Document, although I wouldn't rule out "personal days" on other occasions.
Notes to answerer
Asker: I like this...:-)

Asker: Discretionary days/time off will do nicely, thanks :-)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  AllegroTrans: Yes best answer, and I wouldn't use "personal days" for UK either; maybe "days to be taken at discretion"
4 hrs
  -> Thanks
disagree  Adrian MM.: not very persuasive references and not a term used in the real world.
1 day 12 hrs
  -> What, you mean, unlike yours? Do me a favour! In fact, do everybody a favour and stop pursuing your own petty agendas.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
leave days


Explanation:
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/leave-ad...

Francois Boye
United States
Local time: 13:40
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 68
Notes to answerer
Asker: We already have a couple of other types of "leave" in the document, so I'd rather not muddy the pool.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Andrew Bramhall: Doesn't that imply that it's part of a contractual allowance, though?
6 mins
  -> for employees
neutral  AllegroTrans: Wouldn't the "días de vacaciones" also be leave days? You have not made any distinction//we know all that but you have to distinguish between two types of "days off" and you haven't done so
5 hrs
  -> An employee may use annual leave for vacations, rest and relaxation, and personal business or emergencies. An employee has a right to take annual leave, subject to the right of the supervisor to schedule the time at which annual leave may be taken
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -2
Spare days


Explanation:
That's what they used to be called at offices in the Greater London Area, 'spares' at our school in the South of England being shorthand for a 'spare or no lesson'.

Example sentence(s):
  • Landed in Kampala and had a spare day to tour the city, Walter send Eddy to come and take care of me on the tour. aterrizamos en Kampala y tenía un día libre para visitar la ciudad, Walter enviar Eddy a cuidar de mí en la excursión.

    Reference: http://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish-to-english/transport-trans...
Adrian MM.
Austria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 278

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Andrew Bramhall: Definitely not; neither your example sentence nor the proz reference are of any relevance whatsoever to the context here.
1 hr
  -> At least I supplied refs. - which is more than you did.
disagree  AllegroTrans: School in the south of England? Spare day in Kampala? + Your KidoZ ref. was totally different context. C'mon Adrian, you can do better than that
3 hrs
  -> The term is used in the real world of education and work.
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
extra days off work


Explanation:
There's a reference about extra days holiday time granted by employers. "This can be relevant to part time workers if they work bank holidays and their employer can allow them another day off later, if the employer decides to do so. At the employer's discretion, workers can have an extra half-day off if the employer decides to close early on Christmas Eve, for instance. Thus, extra days off for part time workers seem to depend on an employer's discretion."

(SP: Hay un referente sobre días libres del lugar del trabajo que son otorgados por el jefe o el gerente. Pueden tener que ver con trabajadores de horarios parciales si trabajan días de feria. A discreción o a criterio del empleador, trabajadores pueden tener un medio día libre si el empleador se decide a cerrar temprano el día antes de Navidad. Días libres discrecionales para trabajadores dependen de los decisos del jefe.)

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Note added at 2 days 10 hrs (2021-07-28 05:12:48 GMT) Post-grading
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I understood that days off work could be either paid or unpaid by the employer. In the past, legal employers would be obliged to pay for only two days off work due to illness per year. However allowances could increase with increasing length of service in the same place of work, or in the same line of employment I expect that time off for any other reason, paid or unpaid, would need to be agreed by the employer.

(ESP: Entendía que los días fuera del lugar de trabajo podían ser pagados o no pagados. En el pasado, empleadores legales serían obligados a pagar sólo dos días de descanso a casa debidos a enfermedad cada año. Sin embargo, subsidios podían incrementarse con la duración de la duración del servicio en el mismo lugar de trabajo, o en el mismo tipo de trabajo. Supongo que días libres de trabajo, pagados o no pagados, tendrían que ser aprobados por los patrones.)

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Note added at 2 days 10 hrs (2021-07-28 05:15:42 GMT) Post-grading
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I wrote 'el día antes de Navidades' as 'the day before Christmas'. I understood 'la noche buena' to be Christmas Eve at night.

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Note added at 4 days (2021-07-30 13:28:10 GMT) Post-grading
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Holiday pay is similar with legal employers, who are obliged to pay workers for a set number of paid holidays each year. Paid holiday time can increase with the length of continuous service. Unpaid holiday time can take place when employers are not legally obliged to include holiday pay.

(ESP: Vacaciones pagadas son similares, puesto que los días de vacaciones que los patrones de trabajo están obligados a pagar cada año incrementan con la duración del servicio continuo. Vacaciones no pagadas tienen lugar cuando no están obligados a pagar las vacaciones.)


    https://www.trethowans.com/news/part-time-workers-and-discretionary-holidays
Lisa Rosengard
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:40
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  AllegroTrans: This works but your "explanation" really is irrelevant and pointless given the source text is not from UK
19 mins
neutral  Andrew Bramhall: Christmas Eve = "el día antes de Navidad"?? I thought it was 'la noche buena";
7 hrs
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