Social Security allows unemployed workers to request and obtain a pension for permanent disability in any of its degrees, including absolute disability, which is equivalent to 100% of the regulatory base. To access it, it is necessary that the applicant be in a situation assimilated to registration, which is recognized both for those who receive the contributory unemployment benefit and for those who, having exhausted it, remain registered as job seekers in the State Public Employment Service (SEPE).
Article 166 of the General Law of Social Security (consultable in this BOE) establishes that, when a person is unemployed and collecting unemployment benefits, that situation counts as if they were registered with Social Security. In addition, the law also maintains this protection for those who remain involuntarily unemployed after exhausting the subsidy or benefit, as long as they continue to be registered as job seekers.
Of course, the amount of the pension and the type of disability that is recognized depend on the worker’s working life and what they have contributed. In total permanent disability, 55% of the regulatory base is charged (75% if you are over 55 years of age and do not have a job), while in absolute disability, 100% is charged. In addition, the type of illness or injury that prevents working in the usual profession also influences.
Minimum contribution period required
In addition to being in a situation similar to discharge, the unemployed worker must prove a minimum contribution period when the disability results from a common illness, which varies depending on the age of the applicant.
Those under 31 years of age must have contributed one third of the time elapsed from turning 16 to the date of the causative event. In this case, a specific contribution period is not required within the immediately preceding years.
Those over 31 years of age, for their part, must prove a quarter of the time elapsed from the age of 20 until the causative event, with a minimum of 5 years of contributions in any case. Furthermore, one fifth of that period must have been covered within the 10 years immediately prior to the causative event. Campmany Abogados specifies that in a situation assimilated to registration “an absolute status could only be achieved if at least 15 years of contributions are accredited, three of them in the last ten.”
On the contrary, when the disability occurs as a result of an accident, whether work-related or not, there is no minimum contribution period required to be a beneficiary of the benefit.
Other situations similar to discharge
In addition to unemployment, Social Security considers other situations as if the worker were registered. This allows access to permanent disability in cases such as medical leave, paid vacations that have not been taken at the end of the contract, transfer abroad by the company, periods of inactivity of discontinuous permanent employees, leave to care for a child or a dependent family member and the signing of a special agreement with Social Security.
Therefore, unemployed people who are registered as job seekers and meet the contribution requirements can request permanent disability. In cases of absolute permanent disability, the pension can reach 100% of the regulatory base, as explained by Social Security on its official website.