Spanish courts clarify pension and unemployment subsidy requirements

Spanish courts have issued rulings clarifying eligibility requirements for social security benefits and pensions.

The High Court of Justice of the Basque Country confirmed that a self-employed woman was denied a retirement pension because her deregistration from the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) occurred one month past the deadline required to apply the pre-2011 pension reform rules. Although she sought to use transitional provisions to access older regulations, the court ruled that her specific timing for ceasing activity disqualified her from those protections.

Separately, the Supreme Court established doctrine regarding the subsidy for workers over 52 years of age. The court ruled that claimants must maintain an uninterrupted registration as a job seeker from the moment their previous benefit was exhausted. The ruling clarifies that reaching the age of 52 does not automatically trigger eligibility if there has been a break in the continuous registration as a job seeker, as the administration may interpret such gaps as a withdrawal from the labor market.