A 73-year-old Spanish pharmacist saw her retirement pension reduced by half, after Social Security considered that she no longer met the criteria to receive the full amount. The case was subsequently heard by the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia.
Pension initially at 100%
According to the Spanish digital newspaper Noticias Trabajo, Felisa applied for an active retirement pension in 2018, which allows her to continue working while receiving the pension.
At the time, with more than 41 years of contributions under the special regime for self-employed workers, the retired woman started to receive 100% of the pension value, benefiting from the fact that she had employees registered at her pharmacy.
Change to community of goods
In 2019, Felisa set up a community of assets with her son to manage the family business, with 80% of the property and her son with 20%.
With this change, workers became linked to the community of assets, and not directly to Felisa, which led Social Security to reduce the pension to 50%.
Legal requirements
Spanish legislation provides that the self-employed worker must have at least one employee hired directly in his name to be able to receive the full pension.
Felisa appealed to the Cádiz Labor Court, which initially ruled in favor, but the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia overturned this decision, citing Supreme Court case law that establishes that contracts made by a community of goods do not confer individual rights on the partners.
In Portugal, there are no identical rules. Pensioners can work for themselves or for others, but there are limits in situations of early retirement or in accumulating a pension with income from work, especially in the first years.
Although it is not required to have directly hired workers, it is important to respect the accumulation rules and possible tax obligations.
Final decision
As stated by , the ruling confirms that, in Spain, only self-employed workers who have employees hired directly in their name can continue to receive the full value of the active retirement pension.
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