At the age of 71, a worker in the cleaning sector finally managed to have her right to a retirement pension recognized, after several years of impasse with Spanish Social Security. Despite having more than 41 years of discounts throughout his professional life, divided between Spain and Germany, the request had initially been refused based on non-compliance with a technical requirement provided for by law. The decision ended up being reversed by the courts, in a ruling that reinforces the protection of beneficiaries in a situation of absolute permanent incapacity.
The case was considered by the Superior Court of Justice of Castile and León, which ruled in favor of the worker and applied the so-called doctrine of parenthesis. According to the court, periods in which the beneficiary was unable to work due to incapacity cannot be used against her in accessing retirement.
According to the Spanish website Noticias Trabajo, which specializes in legal and labor matters, the woman had already recognized an absolute permanent disability and, when she submitted her retirement request at the age of 67, she faced a refusal from the management entity, despite her contributory history.
A contributory career divided between two countries
Throughout her working life, the worker accumulated 15,101 days of contributions, divided between Spain and Germany. Even so, Social Security understood that the requirement of the so-called specific deficiency, provided for in article 205 of the Spanish General Social Security Law, which requires at least two years of contributions within the 15 years immediately preceding the moment of becoming entitled, was not met.
According to the managing entity, the periods in which the woman was receiving disability benefits could not be used to fulfill this requirement, which made access to the retirement pension unfeasible.
The courts’ response and the application of the parenthesis doctrine
Faced with the refusal, the worker turned to the courts. The Labor Court No. 2 of Zamora initially ruled in favor of him, a decision that would later be confirmed by the Superior Court of Justice of Castile and León.
According to the same source, the judges considered that Social Security’s interpretation was excessively rigid and incompatible with the purpose of the social protection system. At issue was a situation in which the beneficiary was unable to continue working or contributing for reasons beyond her control.
The ruling emphasizes that the period in which the worker was receiving a benefit associated with absolute permanent incapacity must be treated in a way that does not harm her in fulfilling the temporal requirement, applying the so-called parenthesis theory. In practice, this time is neutralized for the purposes of calculating the 15-year window required for the specific grace period.
Absolute incapacity cannot penalize access to retirement
One of the central points of the decision relates to the nature of absolute permanent incapacity. Unlike situations in which there may be compatibility with some work, this incapacity implies, as a rule, a total limitation to professional practice, making it disproportionate to require recent contributions as a condition of access to retirement.
With the confirmation of the sentence, the worker’s right to a retirement pension was recognized, calculated based on a regulatory basis of 1,022.44 euros, with the applicable legal revaluations. The ruling is identified, according to , as STSJ CL 4532/2025.
And in Portugal?
In Portugal, the framework is different. To request the old-age pension under the general scheme, the rule is to reach the legal access age and have at least 15 calendar years of earnings registration (or 144 months in the case of Voluntary Social Security), there is no requirement equivalent to the Spanish “specific waiting period” (2 years within the last 15).
Furthermore, Portuguese law provides that disability pensions acquire the nature of an old-age pension from the month following that in which the pensioner reaches the normal age for access to the old-age pension in force, through the conversion mechanism.
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