Paco Crespo started working at the age of 14, paid for 46 years and ended up with a lifetime cut of 18% in his pension for retiring early at the age of 62. The retiree considers the situation deeply unfair and has become one of the faces of the fight against the penalties applied to long contributory careers in Spain.
According to the Spanish newspaper AS, his story was published by the ASJUBI40 association, which brings together retirees with more than 40 years of discounts and who contest the reducing coefficients applied to involuntary early retirements.
Crespo was fired at the age of 60, after almost four decades working at the same company. He tried to return to the job market, but was unable to get a job again.
With no alternative, he ended up asking for early retirement at the age of 62, immediately being subject to an 18% penalty in the monthly pension amount, a cut that remains for the rest of his life.
A cut that he considers an “injustice”
“In my case, they penalize me with 18% for life, and that is very unfair,” said Crespo in a video published by ASJUBI40 on YouTube. “I paid for 46 years. I retired with 62 and an 18% penalty, this is very unfair”, he said.
For the retired person, it is a punishment applied precisely to those who contributed the most to the system throughout their active lives.
The penalty, he emphasizes, is not temporary or transitory: it accompanies him until the end of his life, with a direct impact on financial stability.
Case reached the European institutions
Convinced that he is facing a structural injustice, Paco Crespo filed complaints with the European institutions, demanding an end to what he describes as an “unfair penalty”.
The ASJUBI40 association uses your case as an example of the problem experienced by thousands of workers with long contributory careers, who were removed from the job market before the legal retirement age.
The organization defends the elimination of reducing coefficients for those who have had more than 40 years of discounts and were forced to retire early.
A fight that goes beyond the personal case
Throughout his professional life, Crespo worked for three companies and combined work with studies in technical engineering, in a journey marked by continuous effort.
His dismissal at the age of 60 completely changed the course of his life, pushing him into an early retirement that he now considers unfair.
According to , and for the retiree, their struggle is not just personal, but a collective fight on behalf of thousands of workers in the same situation.
The debate about permanent cuts in early retirement has been gaining weight in Spain and promises to remain at the center of political discussion.
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