A retiree will not have to return 6,480.28 euros to Social Security after having received her maternity supplement at the same time as her husband. The Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia explains in its ruling that the simultaneous collection of this benefit for demographic contribution is fully compatible, since the original wording of the applicable regulations did not at any time require that the benefit be exclusive to only one of the parents. In this sense, the Supreme Court recognizes in several rulings that the maternity supplement can be collected as long as the requirements are met.
According to this ruling, Ana retired on August 18, 2019 and Social Security automatically recognized the maternity supplement in her pension for being the mother of five children. Everything went smoothly until her husband, Eulalio, decided to legally claim his right to receive this same supplement. The Social Court number 3 of Jaén agreed with the husband in a ruling handed down on September 27, 2021.
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As a result of this judicial recognition of the father, Social Security considered that both payments were incompatible with each other and, therefore, informed the retiree that it was eliminating the supplement and declared that she had collected it improperly. The entity demanded that he repay 6,480.28 euros.
After seeing how her right was withdrawn, the affected person presented a previous claim to the administration in May 2022, but Social Security rejected it months later. Far from settling, Ana decided to go to court to defend her right to maintain the benefit she had been receiving.
The original law did not prohibit collecting it at the same time
Both in the first instance, in the Social Court number 2 of Jaén, and later the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia, ruled in favor of the pensioner. Both courts agreed that the bonus was fully compatible, rejecting the claims of Social Security.
In its resolution, the Andalusian TSJ applies the unified jurisprudence of the Supreme Court for pensions prior to the legal reform of 2021. The magistrates recall that when analyzing the requirements of the original rule, “the law omits any reference to the other parent”, so “the fact that the supplement is denied due to the fact that it is already receiving it lacks legal support.” The Court insists that inventing an exclusivity rule so that only one of the two is paid is a clear excess.
Thus and for everything explained, the key to this ruling lies in applying a logical and non-discriminatory interpretation. As the TSJ explains verbatim, “it would be paradoxical and illogical if a benefit created to compensate for the unfavorable situation suffered by many women ended up being denied to one of them with the argument that the male parent is already receiving it.” Since European justice determined that excluding men was discriminatory, the way to solve the problem is to expand the right to both spouses, not to take it away from the mother.
For all of the above, the ruling confirms that Ana can make her pension compatible with the supplement for her five children, so she is freed from returning the 6,480.28 euros that Social Security claimed from her.