What are calendar days, business days, and working days? Learn to tell them apart.

Very often, when we are about to complete some kind of administrative formality or apply for vacation or benefits, we are told about calendar days (días naturales), working days (días laborables), or business days (días hábiles). And sometimes it is easy to get confused.

What are calendar days

ALL the days of the year, from Monday to Sunday, including public holidays. In other words, if the year has 365 days, those are calendar days; in leap years there is one more, giving 366 calendar days. There is therefore no doubt as regards calendar days.

What are business days and non-business days (días inhábiles)

Business days are the days considered suitable for carrying out certain acts or for counting the days of certain time limits. These business days are determined by law, and in Spain, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays are considered business days.

Under the foregoing criterion, Saturdays and Sundays are considered non-business days. Public holidays are also considered non-business days; in Spain, we must bear in mind that there are national public holidays, but there are also different public holidays in each Autonomous Community (region).

The importance of this distinction is that when a time limit ends on a non-business day, which, as we have already said, means a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, the time limit is extended to the next business day. When the last day of a time limit is a non-business day (for example, a Saturday), it is carried over to the next business day (if it is a Saturday, since Sunday is also a non-business day, the last day of the time limit will be Monday, unless it is a public holiday).

The following are non-business days nationwide or in the Autonomous Communities:

a) Throughout Spain: Saturdays, Sundays, and the days declared national public holidays that cannot be replaced, or those in respect of which none of the Autonomous Communities has exercised its power to replace them.

b) Within the territory of each Autonomous Community: the days designated as public holidays by that Autonomous Community.

c) Within the territory of the entities that make up the local administration: the days established by the respective Autonomous Communities in their corresponding calendars of non-business days.

What are working days (días laborales)

Working days are the days on which people work. Working days depend, in principle, on the company we work for, which may have its own calendar. But as a general rule, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and also Saturdays are considered working days.