The theme of this article focuses on the penalties applied to workers who, despite long contributory careers, are forced to retire early and end up receiving a reduced pension. The case occurred in Spain, but it raises questions of equity that many European pensioners also recognize in their own realities. A man was forced to retire early and suffered a 13% pension cut.
In Spain, reports are multiplying of workers who, after decades of discounts, are laid off at the end of their working lives and end up forced to accept early retirement. This is an especially common situation after the age of 60, the age at which returning to the job market becomes almost impossible. But, despite long careers, Social Security applies reducing coefficients that permanently reduce the value of the pension.
A 45-year career that did not avoid being penalized
Emilio Maneiro is one of around 900,000 Spanish pensioners who says he was forced to take early retirement, according to the association ASJUBI40, which defends early retirement without penalties, cited by Spanish digital newspaper Noticias Trabajo. In his testimony, he explains that the reason is simple: age has become an insurmountable obstacle to continuing to work. With 45 years of deductions, he ended up penalized by 13% of the pension value. And this reduction is definitive.
Emilio questions the logic of the system. Remember that other schemes, such as passive classes or certain special careers, allow retirement with 100 percent of the pension, even before the age of 65. Therefore, he asks why workers under the general regime, who contributed for decades, do not receive similar treatment.
Contrast between regimes and the feeling of inequality
The comparison is clear: Spanish passive classes can retire at age 60 with their full pension, as long as they have 35 years of deductions. Emilio, with 45 years of career and forced to retire 26 months before the legal age, will forever be left with only 87% of his pension, that is, 13% less than the full amount. In other words, despite an additional decade of contributions, he receives less.
For many pensioners, this mechanism creates a structural inequality that the State has not corrected. The discussion on the elimination of reducing coefficients has been at a standstill in Congress, despite there being a legislative proposal presented by pensioner movements, according to the same source.
Penalties that persist until the solution progresses
Emilio criticizes political immobility, recalling that the proposal to eliminate penalties in cases of very long careers has been “frozen” for more than a year in the Spanish Parliament. And he makes fun of the ease with which funds are unlocked for other areas, while the debate on early retirements remains forgotten.
The retiree also left a direct appeal to the Spanish Government, arguing that workers with more than 40 years of discounts should not suffer lifetime reductions in their pension, especially when unemployment and age push them into retirement with no real alternative, the .
Portuguese legal framework
Portuguese legislation establishes two main mechanisms for reducing the value of early pensions: the sustainability factor, applied to those who retire before the normal retirement age, and the monthly penalty for each month of early retirement compared to the legal retirement age.
There is, however, an important nuance. The regime introduced by Decree-Law No. 119/2018 establishes that, for those who are at least 60 years old and complete, at that age, 40 years of remuneration records, the sustainability factor no longer applies. This does not mean, however, that all reductions disappear, as the elimination of this factor does not prevent the application of advance penalties when they are legally due.
Thus, someone with 45 years of discounts who was forced to retire early could, in Portugal, not suffer cuts in the value of their pension, if they fit into this special regime.
Possible reductions
When this does not happen, the expected reductions apply: a definitive cut resulting from the sustainability factor and a permanent monthly reduction of 0.5 percent for each month in advance.
There is also a specific early pension scheme for long-term involuntary unemployment, provided for in Decree-Law No. 220/2006, which allows for more favorable conditions when dismissal meets certain legal criteria, potentially reducing or eliminating part of the penalties.
Thus, if the situation experienced by Emilio had occurred in Portugal, the impact would depend on the applicable legal framework: with 45 years of career he could not suffer any reduction, but if he did not meet the requirements of the special regime or if the retirement resulted from a dismissal that did not meet the legal conditions, he would face permanent penalties, as happens with many Portuguese pensioners.
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