The permanent disability pension is financial aid granted by Social Security in order to compensate for the loss of income experienced by a worker when their working capacity is reduced or canceled due to an illness or accident. However, when the cause is a common illness, the law also requires a minimum contribution period. If this deficiency is not met, the National Social Security Institute may deny the benefit.
This is stated in article 195.1 of the General Social Security Law, which explains verbatim that it is necessary to “have a prior contribution period covered if the permanent disability results from a common illness or if the permanent disability results from a non-work accident and the interested party is not in a discharged or assimilated situation.”
On the other hand, they point out that “if the disability results from an accident, whether work-related or not, or from an occupational disease, no prior contributions are required.” That is, the contribution requirement will depend on whether the limitation is derived from the work.
What contribution is required to collect permanent disability
The law makes a difference between permanent partial disability and permanent disability pensions. The partial one, which is included in article 195.2 of the LGSS, establishes that “1,800 days” of contributions are required within the ten years immediately preceding the date on which the temporary disability from which the permanent disability derives ends.
For permanent disability pensions derived from common illness (that is, total, absolute and major disability), the requirement changes depending on the age of the worker. If you are under 31 years of age, you must have contributed one third of the time elapsed between the age of 16 and the causative event. If you are 31 years old or older, a quarter of the time elapsed between the age of 20 and the causing event is required, with a minimum of five years. Furthermore, at least one fifth of that period must fall within the previous ten years. This is what article 195.3 of the LGSS literally says.
In this way, there is no single and identical requirement for all degrees. In fact, one of the most common mistakes is to think that it always takes 15 years of contributions to receive absolute permanent disability, which is not the case. This 15-year threshold only appears in a specific case, when a pension for absolute permanent disability or severe disability derived from common contingencies is accessed from a situation of non-registration or assimilated to discharge. It is established in article 195.4 of the LGSS.
Not all disabilities give the right to compensation
It is also convenient to differentiate the payment method. Social Security reminds that permanent partial disability “consists of a lump sum compensation” that is, a single, lump sum payment. On the other hand, total permanent incapacity for the usual profession “consists of a monthly lifelong pension, which may exceptionally be replaced by a lump-sum compensation, when the beneficiary is under 60 years of age.” Absolute permanent disability is equivalent to 100% of the regulatory base and great disability adds a complement, because, at this degree, a third person is necessary for the most basic acts of life.
Therefore, the key message is clear. Social Security may reject permanent disability due to a common illness if the worker does not prove the minimum contribution required by the LGSS. But this requirement does not operate the same in all cases, nor does it apply when the disability results from a work accident, non-work accident during discharge or occupational disease.