Madrid (EFE).- Expatriate workers, those employees of Spanish companies posted to third countries, will be able to continue contributing to the Spanish Social Security so as not to lose access to the future retirement pension or the rest of the protective action of this body.
According to the order finalized by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, to whose text EFE has had access, this regulatory change is motivated because the disengagement with Social Security discouraged workers, especially those in a stage close to retirement , to accept the proposal of their companies to move to work abroad.
Until now, workers who move to countries that have an agreement with Spain on social security are forced to disassociate themselves from the Spanish Social Security after a while, remaining under the auspices of the social protection system existing in the country to which they have been displaced.
However, the new Social Security order will allow workers to continue voluntarily subject to Spanish legislation once the maximum period of planned posting has expired, which varies depending on the country of destination.
To do this, the company, after agreeing with the worker, may request the General Treasury of Social Security to continue subject to Spanish Social Security legislation.
This situation was already applicable to expatriate workers in countries where no instrument for coordinating Social Security systems is applicable, or even though said workers “are not included within its subjective scope of application”.
Protective action: pensions for disability and retirement
Those expatriate workers who voluntarily choose to continue within the Spanish Social Security system maintain some of the rights granted by the protective action of said system, specifically the contributory pensions for permanent disability and death and survival derived from common contingencies, as well as the contributory retirement pension.
For workers in countries without an agreement between the Social Security systems, the protective action is extended to subsidies for temporary disability due to common or professional contingencies, for birth and care of a minor, for co-responsibility in the care of the infant, for care of minors affected by cancer or other serious disease, and by risk during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
According to the text to which EFE has had access, those workers who, when the text enters into force, are already registered in the system of the country in which they are posted, may request voluntary association with the Spanish Social Security in a six months from the date the order comes into effect.
However, that text details that the order “will not give rise to any rights for a period prior to the date of its application”, that is, those expatriate workers who have already contributed to a system in a third country will not be able to recover or transfer those Spanish Social Security contributions.
