An unemployed man starts selling grapes and wood while collecting unemployment and now he will not have to return the 2,520.97 euros that the SEPE demanded of him, for earning less than 200 euros per month

The Superior Court of Justice of Galicia understands that the fact that an unemployed person earns a marginal amount of money is not a reason to withdraw unemployment benefits. In this way, he agrees with a man from whom the SEPE had claimed 2,520.97 euros for selling grapes and wood while collecting unemployment, since that little money he generated came from an activity that was mainly for the consumption of his family, and that does not prevent him from being able to collect unemployment.

This man began collecting unemployment benefits in August 2021, when he was entitled to 720 days (the maximum duration). The problem is that during the years 2021 and 2022 he was selling grapes and wood, and although he managed to gross 8,943.09 and 13,111.66 euros, what he really had left after expenses was 1,222.30 euros the first year and 2,348.45 euros the second.

The SEPE reviewed this income and decided to suspend his unemployment for 213 days, in addition to telling him that he had improperly collected 2,520.97 euros. It must be taken into account that unemployment cannot be collected at the same time as self-employment, although this activity does not require registration with Social Security (as regulated by article 282 of the General Social Security Law).

The SEPE asked the Labor Inspection to investigate the case in February 2024, when the days of unemployment had already been removed. In April, the Inspection responded that this activity was “residual and sporadic aimed primarily at family self-consumption,” and that there was no irregularity.

The unemployed person went to court, and the Social Court number 3 of Vigo annulled the SEPE decision. For this reason, it recognized his right to collect all of his unemployment and forced the organization to return what it had already deducted, although the SEPE, not satisfied, decided to appeal.

In these cases, the Supreme Court has been applying the so-called principle of economic insignificance for years. That is, if what you earn is so little that it is not enough to live on, it does not count as a job, although it must be looked at on a case-by-case basis.

Less than 200 euros a month is not a job

The TSJ has rejected the appeal and maintains what the Vigo court said. The problem for the SEPE is that with grapes and wood this man earned about 100 euros per month in 2021, just under 200 in 2022 and about 145 in 2023, far from the 723.75 euros of 75% of the 2021 minimum wage. For the Chamber, “this amount does not offer possibilities of personal support for himself and his family.”

Furthermore, he remembers in the words of the Supreme Court that a small crop for home consumption is not a business to sell, and that treating it as a job “entails ignoring a sociological reality.” In this way, income like this cannot be punished even if it is not communicated to the SEPE, since it does not even serve to suspend unemployment.

Very different was the case of a man whom the Labor Inspection found working in a bar without being registered while collecting unemployment, and who lost his benefit and had to return 778.55 euros to the SEPE.