invalidity

Protection in the invalidity eventuality is materialized through the lifetime grant of a monthly pension, which aims to replace the lost work income, when the employee is totally and permanently unable to the fulfillment of his/her functions due to non-professional cause (obviously before meeting old age pension entitlement requirements).

Retirement shall be grounded on general absolute incapacity when the employee is totally and permanently unable to perform any profession of any kind whatsoever.

Retirement pension for invalidity – convergent social protection scheme

The retirement statute also regulates this eventuality in the case of the convergent social protection scheme.

The general requirements concerning compulsory affiliation to the Public Employees’ Special Pension Scheme and contribution payment, by employees and public administration services, are the same to those applied to old age protection.

The corresponding waiting period is of 5 years that may be completed with the affiliation and contribution time for the social protection general scheme.

Confirmation of any of those incapacities by the Public Employees’ Special Pension Scheme medical board shall be necessary as specific requirement for the recognition of the retirement pension for invalidity right.

Retirement grounded on incapacity may also be compulsory when personal appearance before the referred to medical board shall be required by the competent service sufficiently substantiated and against employee’s willingness.

Within the scope of this eventuality early retirement shall not apply.

The rules and calculation formulas applicable to the retirement pension for invalidity (incapacity) are common to those applicable to the retirement pension for old age.

Employees with a public employment relationship and contractual staff admitted after 1 January 2006 are covered by the social protection general scheme for this eventuality and shall compulsorily be registered as beneficiaries in the social protection institutions such as other employees already framed by this scheme for all eventualities before that date. In this case, the quota and contributions payment made by employees and services/employers is similar to the one described regarding protection in old age.

Retirement pension for invalidity – social protection general scheme

In the social protection general scheme compliance with a 5 calendar years waiting period shall be required that may be completed with affiliation and contributions’ time for the convergent social protection scheme. The retirement pension for invalidity right depends, as a specific requirement, upon recognition of the permanent relative invalidity for the performance of the usual occupation or of the absolute invalidity when the beneficiary is in a permanent incapacity for the fulfillment of any work or profession whatsoever.

The “Incapacity Checking Service (ICS)” of the social protection institutions is the competent entity to certify the invalidity situation. The corresponding request shall be informally submitted when the beneficiary terminates the illness protection term (1095 days – 3 years) and he/she is not fit to resume work.

The exceptional scheme that allows for new public functions fulfillment or provision of work paid to public administration by retirees shall make a distinction between the old-age retirement and retirement for incapacity (invalidity), and the beneficiaries of the latter one shall be prevented from benefiting from that scheme.

In the social security general scheme distinction shall also be made between the rules that govern accumulation of work income with old age and invalidity pensions.

The beneficiary is entitled to accumulate an old age pension with work income.

The absolute invalidity pension shall not be accumulated with work income. On the other hand, the beneficiary entitled to a retirement pension for relative incapacity may accumulate it with work income, but limits shall apply to the accumulated amount.