Suffering a work accident does not end with the sick leave report. What most workers ignore is that, in addition to the benefit managed by the mutual insurance company during temporary disability, there is a separate compensation provided by the company’s insurer, this being an amount that the law recognizes when the accident occurred due to lack of safety measures and that does not come alone, since it must be claimed. Víctor Arpa, a labor lawyer specialized in work accidents, has explained in a video published on Instagram how much this compensation is worth applying the 2026 scale and why thousands of people affected lose it without knowing it existed.
“If you have had a work accident, you could be giving thousands of euros to your company’s insurance. And I am not talking to you about any help, or a favor. I am talking to you about your compensation, about money that corresponds to you for the damage suffered,” Arpa begins in her video. The diagnosis that follows is direct: “No one is going to call you to give you that money. No one. If you don’t claim it, the insurance keeps it.”
Arpa breaks down the amount into four concepts. The first is medical leave. “For each day of medical leave there are almost 68 euros in compensation,” the lawyer details. If the worker has been on sick leave for a full year, this concept alone represents close to 25,000 euros (specifically, 365 days multiplied by the 67.91 euros established by the current scale for moderate unplanned days). And that is, Arpa insists, “only part of the compensation.”
To that figure are added the days of hospitalization, which are about 98 euros for each day hospitalized. If the severity of the accident required a stay in the Intensive Care Unit, the amount rises to 130 euros per day. Finally, each surgical intervention adds between 500 and 2,000 additional euros.
These amounts respond to the personal injury scale established in Law 35/2015, reforming the system for the assessment of damages caused to people in traffic accidents, which is also applied as a reference in the workplace. For the worker to have the right to claim, it is necessary to prove that the employer failed to comply with the preventive obligations imposed by article 14 of the Law 31/1995, on Prevention of Occupational Risksthat is, the law that obliges companies to guarantee the safety and health of their workers.
“There are accidents in which you can claim much more. For all your consequences, for the loss of quality of life that has caused you, for the loss of income. The pain is very great and must be compensated,” adds the lawyer.
Who pays and why is it not the mutual insurance company?
The most common confusion, according to Arpa, is to believe that when you collect the leave, everything has already been collected, but they are two different things. The temporary disability benefit (which is paid by the mutual insurance company while the sick leave lasts and which covers a percentage of the salary) and the compensation for damages (which is covered by the civil liability insurance contracted by the company) are not the same nor are they managed by the same body. “It is paid by your company’s insurance company and not by the mutual insurance company,” says Arpa. But only if someone claims it.
The civil liability of the employer for a work accident is based on the article 1902 of the Civil Codewhich establishes that anyone who, through action or omission, causes damage to another, involving fault or negligence, is obliged to repair the damage caused. This is complemented by article 42 of Law 31/1995, which establishes the employer’s responsibility when damage arises from non-compliance with safety measures.
For insurers, the worker’s silence is savings. “They are cost-saving machines and no one will come and tell you to collect your compensation, because they are not interested in you knowing,” explains the lawyer in other videos in which he discusses the same issue.
One year to claim
One of the most critical points of the video is the deadline. “Many people lose it because they don’t know or wait too long,” warns Arpa. The worker has one year to claim, counted from the date of medical discharge or from the moment Social Security recognizes his permanent disability. After that year, the law prescribes. The insurer is no longer obliged to pay.
“So if you have suffered a work accident, do not give away your money. The company’s insurance company does not have to keep it, because it is yours,” the lawyer concludes.