The Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia has recognized the absolute permanent disability of an office cleaner with bipolar disorder, for which she will receive a lifetime pension of 100% of her regulatory base, set at 907.68 euros. In this way, justice corrects Social Security, which had denied him because he preferred to wait to see how his illness evolved before deciding.
According to the ruling (available at this link from the Judiciary), against which an appeal could be made to the Supreme Court, the worker, who was 37 years old when her case was assessed in October 2023, had been suffering from psychiatric problems since 2007. Since then she had suffered two psychotic episodes (in which contact with reality is lost), in 2012 and 2015, a depressive episode in 2016 and a new relapse with delusions in 2017, until in February 2023 it worsened again, with mood swings and anxiety. In May of that year, his public health psychiatrist recommended that he remain on sick leave.
The problem is that the Social Security medical report recognized that he had a long-term psychiatric disorder, but concluded that the final assessment had to be postponed until we saw if his illness stabilized, so in October 2023 he was left without a pension.
The worker went to court, but the then Social Court number 2 of Malaga ruled in favor of Social Security in October 2025, understanding that her illness did not prevent her from continuing to work as a cleaner, pending the tests and assessments proposed by the medical report.
To understand it a little, clarify that absolute disability is the degree granted to someone who cannot work at anything, and that the law does not require that the disease be incurable. Article 193 of the General Social Security Law says that the possibility of recovery does not prevent recognition of disability “if said possibility is medically estimated as uncertain or long-term.”
Waiting to see how it evolves is against the law
The TSJ relies precisely on that article to give him absolute permanent disability, and remembers that his bipolar disorder came from a long time ago and that, despite the ups and downs, he had a “remarkable persistence”, so he could not be expected to recover soon to return to work.
Therefore, delaying the decision until we see if the disease was stabilized, as proposed by Social Security, “is something contrary to the provisions of the norm,” according to the ruling.
It is not the first time that justice has recognized the absolute for a bipolar disorder, since a court in Barcelona, with the subsequent confirmation of the TSJ of Catalonia, also gave it to a bus driver with bipolar disorder and addictions, despite the fact that Social Security claimed that he could continue doing lighter jobs.
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The pension is paid with effect from October 3, 2023 and, with the increases in 2024, 2025 and 2026, today it is around approximately 995 euros per month. Furthermore, since it is an absolute disability, it is exempt from personal income tax, since this is stated in article 7 of Law 35/2006 (the personal income tax law).