The temporary disability benefitl, better known as sick leave, is an aid that workers can receive when, due to an illness, injury or accident (work or not), they are temporarily unable to work. Thus, its objective is to compensate for the loss of income suffered by the worker during the time it takes to recover.
As its name indicates (temporary disability), cannot be charged indefinitely (just as it can be suspended for not going to medical appointments or other reasons), and there is a maximum time for which it can be received. That is why many workers are wondering: what is the maximum time that sick leave can be collected in 2025?
In general, It can be collected for 365 days (one year), but it can be extended for 180 more days (6 more months) if the worker is expected to recover during this new period. of the illness or injury that caused the sick leave. Therefore, sick leave can actually be charged for a total of 545 days.
It should be noted that, since May 2023, it is not necessary for the National Social Security Institute (INSS) to expressly declare this extension. Otherwise, after the year of sick leave, the worker automatically moves to a situation of extension of temporary disability, and may receive medical discharge at any time (it is not necessary that the 180-day period be completed).
The sick leave can be expanded exceptionally through another extension up to more than 730 days.
Once the aforementioned period of 535 days has been exceeded (the initial 365 days plus the extension of 180 days), there may be two scenarios:
- The worker is recovered: he will be discharged and return to work.
- The worker is not recovered: if you are still unable to worktotally or partially, A file will be opened for you to be examined and see if you can be a beneficiary of a permanent disability pension.. This is established in article 174.2 of the General Social Security Law and, depending on the severity, you will be granted one degree of disability or another.
At this last point, when the worker remains disabled, the sick leave can be extended even further. In theory, the INSS has a period of 90 days (three months) to study the worker’s situation and notify the Social Security medical verdictso the sick leave could be extended again until reaching 730 days in total. This second extension is known as “qualification delay” and, during it, they study whether the worker can receive the permanent disability pension and, if so, what degree corresponds.
Now, through management criterion 26/2023 (which can be consulted here), Social Security established that There are exceptional cases so the leave can still be extended beyond these 730 days pending the resolution of the Medical Courtdue to the complexity of the case or the illness or injury that caused it. In this case, when 730 days are exceeded while waiting to hear the resolution of the Medical Court, it is exclusively up to the mutual collaborators of Social Security to pay for the temporary disability.
Finally, note that there are two possible options if we find ourselves in this situation: that they grant us a permanent disability (it can be partial, total, absolute or of great disability, depending on different factors, and each one with different consequences) or that they give us medical discharge and we have to return to work.