Sick leave and disability in Spain: temporary and permanent

Incapacidad temporal, commonly called baja médica (sick leave), is the situation in which you cannot work because of ordinary illness, a non-occupational accident, a workplace accident or an occupational disease, and you receive healthcare from the Seguridad Social (Spain's social security system). It is a benefit that replaces your salary for as long as your recovery lasts.

Who signs the baja depends on the cause. If it is ordinary illness or a non-occupational accident, the sick note is issued by a doctor of your Servicio Público de Salud (the regional public health service), your family doctor or the specialist. If the cause is a workplace accident or an occupational disease, the baja is issued by a doctor of the mutua, the insurer that collaborates with the Seguridad Social.

Since 1 April 2023 (Real Decreto 1060/2022, the Spanish royal decree on sick notes) you no longer have to take the notes to your employer. The Servicio Público de Salud or the mutua send the baja to the INSS (the national institute that manages social security benefits) electronically, and the INSS passes it on to your employer. All you have to do is attend the medical reviews you are called to.

Sick leave has a maximum duration of 365 days. If, on reaching that limit, you are expected to recover and be signed off as fit, the INSS can extend it by a further 180 days, up to a total of 545 days. From day 365 onwards the only body competent to extend it, sign you off as fit or start a permanent disability assessment is the INSS, not your doctor and not the mutua.

For ordinary illness or a non-occupational accident, you are paid nothing for the first 3 days (unless your collective agreement improves on that). From day 4 to day 20 you receive 60% of the base reguladora (the calculation base for the benefit), and from day 21 onwards 75%. The period from day 4 to day 15 is paid by your employer at its own cost, and from day 16 it falls to the INSS or the mutua, although you receive it in your payslip through pago delegado (your employer advances it and the Seguridad Social reimburses it afterwards).

For a workplace accident or an occupational disease the cover is greater: the day the leave starts is paid by your employer at full salary, and from the next day you receive 75% of the base reguladora right from the first day. If you are an autónomo (a self-employed worker registered in Spain), the benefit is paid to you directly by the mutua with the same percentage brackets, with no employer in between.

When the injuries or the illness stabilise and leave permanent after-effects that reduce or wipe out your ability to work, the situation stops being temporary and a permanent disability is assessed. The law recognises 4 grades, from the least to the most severe.

Incapacidad permanente parcial (partial permanent disability): it reduces your normal performance in your usual occupation without preventing it altogether. It does not give the right to a monthly pension, but to a single lump sum equal to 24 monthly payments of the base reguladora.

Incapacidad permanente total (total permanent disability): it disqualifies you from your usual occupation, although you may take up a different one. The pension is 55% of the base reguladora, and it can be increased by a further 20% (total cualificada) when certain circumstances of age and difficulty in finding work come together.

Incapacidad permanente absoluta (absolute permanent disability): it disqualifies you from any trade or occupation. The pension is 100% of the base reguladora. Gran invalidez (severe disability) is the highest grade, where you also need another person's help for the essential acts of daily life (dressing, eating, moving around), and it adds to the pension a financial supplement meant to pay whoever looks after you.

The body that recognises and assesses permanent disability is the INSS, through the Equipo de Valoración de Incapacidades (EVI, the disability assessment team), which examines your medical reports and issues a proposed opinion on the grade that applies. The procedure can be started by the INSS itself, at the request of the mutua or your employer, or on the application of the person concerned.

To assess your case, the INSS reviews the medical reports, the diagnostic tests and the history of your sick leave. Supplying all the clinical documentation that proves the after-effects is decisive, because the grade (and therefore the amount) depends on how well documented the file is.

Not every case requires a minimum contribution record. If the disability arises from an accident (at work or otherwise) or from an occupational disease, no prior contribution period is required. If it arises from ordinary illness, a minimum contribution time is required, and it varies with your age at the time of the triggering event.

If the INSS refuses the disability or recognises a lower grade than the one that corresponds to you, the decision is not the last word: it can be challenged. It is common for a properly documented grade to be recognised only after pressing the point, so it is worth preparing the application and, where appropriate, the challenge in as much detail as possible from the outset.

Managora prepares and files for you both the handling of incapacidad temporal and the permanent disability application before the INSS, in your name and without you having to travel anywhere. We gather the documentation, put the medical reports in order and file the case electronically.

If your application is refused or you are recognised a lower grade than the one that corresponds to you, Managora prepares the reclamación previa (the compulsory prior claim) before the INSS and the next step if it becomes necessary, defending the grade that fits your after-effects.

You can start each service from its page on our site. The current price of our service always appears on the corresponding page (incapacidad temporal and incapacidad permanente): these benefits carry no tasa (official fee), so what you see on the page is only Managora's fee for doing it all for you.