The Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country has recognized the right of a woman to retire at age 56, collecting 100% of the pension of 2,070.20 euros, after Social Security denied it. The woman, named Gracia, had requested early retirement at age 56 due to a 68% disability, but this was initially denied by Social Security.
This worker had suffered from total deaf-muteness since childhood, which affected her hearing and expressive ability, which is why she had to communicate with sign language and with whom she had lived her entire working life, that is, 36 years and 6 months, according to the ruling. Due to his 68% disability, he decided to apply to Social Security for early retirement due to disability, under Royal Decree 1539/2003, which allows the ordinary retirement age to be reduced for people with a proven disability of 45%.
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Even so, Social Security denied it, arguing that he did not meet the minimum required age, since his 68% disability was recognized in 2005, which meant that he would not reach the early retirement age. This is explained by the ruling STSJ PV 2644/2023 (can be accessed through this link).
For Gracia, the refusal did not take into account that her disability was from birth and not since 2005, even though it was recognized in that year. For this reason he decided to file a claim with Social Security, which was rejected. Despite this, the worker decided to go to the Social Court No. 2 of Vitoria-Gasteiz, which ruled in her favor.
For the court, he met the contribution and disability requirements, which he had since birth, which gave him the right to receive early retirement with 100% of his regulatory base and without cuts, with which he would collect a salary of 2,070.20 euros per month. Now Social Security was not satisfied, so they decided to take the case to the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country.
The application of reducing coefficients
The TSJ of the Basque Country was clear and explained that Social Security had made an error by not applying the age reduction coefficients corresponding to people with a degree of disability greater than 65% over all the years contributed. This error meant that not all of the reducing coefficients on age would be applied, since it had been done since 2005 and not since it began to work.
That is, the court decided to apply the reducing coefficient of 0.25 retroactively, considering that his disability had been constant and sufficiently serious since childhood, although the degree of 68% was formally recognized in 2005.
Overall, the court considered that the worker did have the right to retire early due to disability at 56 years and 10 months of age, receiving a pension of 2,070.20 euros per month. Not only that, but Social Security must also pay the months not paid since the denial. That is, if the denial was in December 2020 and the sentence in February 2023, approximately Social Security should pay you approximately 66,246.4 euros in arrears.
Reduction of retirement age due to disability
Royal Decree 1539/2003 allows workers with a degree of disability equal to or greater than 65% to reduce their retirement age without suffering a pension cut. For these cases, the age is reduced by a period equivalent to that resulting from applying a coefficient of 0.25 to the time actually worked (or 0.50 if a third person is also needed for the most basic acts of life). The retirement age may be reduced to a maximum of 52 years.
This should not be confused with Royal Decree 370/2023, which allows access at the age of 56 if you have a degree of disability equal to or greater than 45% as long as the disability comes from one of the diseases listed in ANNEX I of said Law.