A man managed to retire at the age of 59 with a monthly pension of 2,641.81 euros after the Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS), in Spain, refused his request, claiming that part of his career had been spent as an interim employee. According to Noticias Trabajo, a Spanish website specializing in legal and labor matters, the final decision was made by the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) of the Valencian Community, which ruled in favor of the worker and forced the INSS to recognize the right to early retirement without penalties.
According to the same publication, the case involves a local police officer who worked for decades in a municipality in the province of Alicante and who was initially denied access to the legal retirement age reduction coefficients, provided for professions considered to be of increased risk.
The worker, born in 1963, began working as a local police officer on July 1, 1985. However, during the first years, until September 1987, he performed these functions as an interim employee, only later acquiring the status of a career employee. It was precisely this initial period that the INSS decided not to count.
When he reached 59 years and 11 days, the officer submitted a request for early retirement under the regime that allows the age of access to a pension to be reduced in activities of a particularly painful, dangerous or unhealthy nature, implemented, in the case of local police officers, by Royal Decree 1449/2018. Still according to the same source, the INSS refused the request by maintaining that, according to the administrative interpretation applicable to this regime, the calculation for the purposes of reducing coefficients could only consider the period of service provided after acquiring the status of career employee.
According to the same source, by excluding the interim period, the INSS concluded that the worker did not reach the minimum age required to benefit from early retirement without cuts, thus rejecting the request.
The court’s decision changed the outcome
Unsatisfied, the worker turned to the courts. The case began to be analyzed by Juzgado de lo Social no. 6 of Alicante, which ruled in favor of the local police, annulling the INSS administrative decision.
The sentence was later confirmed by the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community, which, according to Noticias Trabajo, considered the exclusion of the interim period for the purposes of calculating the retirement age illegal.
Also according to the publication, the court understood that the application of reducing coefficients must depend on the activity actually carried out and not just on the legal nature of the relationship.
Police activity prevails over the type of bond
In the reasoning described by the publication, the judges highlighted that the worker performed local police duties throughout the period in question, assuming the same risks, responsibilities and professional demands, regardless of whether he was an interim or career employee.
The court also recalls that the preamble of Royal Decree 1449/2018, published in the Official Bulletin of the Spanish State, frames this reduction in the retirement age as a measure to protect people who are members of local police bodies, within the scope of article 206 of the Spanish General Social Security Law.
European principles reinforce the discussion
Another highlighted element concerns European law. Council Directive 1999/70/EC establishes, in the context of fixed-term employment contracts, the principle of non-discrimination between workers with temporary contracts and comparable workers with permanent contracts, except for objective reasons.
According to the same source, it was also along these lines that the court considered it problematic to deny access to early retirement based on an interim period, as it could constitute a difference in treatment without sufficient justification.
Early retirement without cuts confirmed
With this decision, the worker’s right to retire early was recognized without any penalty to the value of the pension. According to the , the court confirmed the full payment of the old-age pension, set at 2,641.81 euros per month, for life.
The case once again places at the center of the debate the way in which periods of service are counted when the actual activity was the same, but the legal relationship changed throughout the career.
And in Portugal?
In Portugal, the framework is different and depends on the applicable regime. In the case of Social Security, the old-age pension is based, in general terms, on the legal access age and a minimum of 15 calendar years with earnings records. There are also specific regimes and rules for particular situations, so each case requires analysis of the specific framework.
Regarding the principle of equal treatment between temporary and permanent relationships, Directive 1999/70/EC constitutes a relevant reference in European Union law, especially when employment conditions and social protection are at stake. In the event of a discrepancy in the calculation of length of service that results solely from the type of employment relationship, legal action may be decisive in clarifying the applicable interpretation.
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