Suffering from osteoarthritis in the hands, fibromyalgia and other cervical and lumbar ailments They do not involve injuries sufficient to render one incapacitated for work. to a domestic worker, about to turn 66, according to the National Social Security Institute (INSS), which in February 2022 denied permanent disability benefits to a worker with these pathologies. However, the employee appealed the INSS’s refusal to the courts and a Social Court of the Community of Madrid has just partially agreed with her and has forced Social Security to recognize a total permanent disability to this worker represented by the Jiménez Bidón Abogados firm.
This domestic worker’s decision to claim disability benefit arose in October 2021, three years ago, when her primary care doctor issued a report in which he considered: “I believe that given the work that the patient performs that involves effort physical of hands and feet and has grade III osteoarthritis, she is not capable of performing it.”
Subsequently, the summary medical report issued almost a year later concluded that the employee had “a chronic degenerative pathology in a 64-year-old woman who was a domestic worker” that should be evaluated by the Disability Assessment Team (EVI), also known as medical court, which is made up of the professionals in charge of making reports to the National Social Security Institute (INSS), so that this entity recognizes the type of disability and the corresponding benefit. This organization determined the following clinical picture: “Osteoarthritis in the hands, right rhizarthrosis, cervical and lumbar spondialoarthrosis without signs of radiculopathy and fibromyalgia.”
However, despite having this medical health report and another private expert, the INSS refused to grant him this benefit “because the injuries he suffers do not reach a sufficient degree of reduction to constitute a permanent disability.” This rejection occurred initially by a resolution of the Madrid Provincial Directorate of the Social Security Institute of February 2023 and, subsequently, a new refusal occurred shortly after, in May of that same year, in response to the mandatory administrative claim. to initiate judicial proceedings.
After this, the plaintiff employee appealed to the social courts and the trial was held on September 16, with the ruling handed down a year later, on September 25, 2024 — to which EL PAÍS has had access — in which The claim formulated by the worker is partially upheld and she is recognized as having a situation of total permanent disability derived from a common illness because her pathologies “cause a very important functional limitation that incapacitates her for her usual profession as a domestic worker, the functional content of which entails physical demand, mobility and strength of the trunk and upper and lower extremities and hands.” The sentence has not been appealed by the INSS, so it is final, as highlighted by the worker’s lawyer, Álvaro Jiménez Bidón.
The estimate of the claim has been partial because he has been granted a total permanent disability and not an absolute one. The first, which is the one that this employee will enjoy, is the one that incapacitates the worker for all or the fundamental tasks of his profession or trade. In fact, the ruling ensures that the plaintiff worker “could perform more sedentary functions” so the judge rejects the initial claim to claim absolute permanent disability, which renders her unable to perform any type of professional activity.
Therefore, the recognition of this disability entails the right of this domestic employee to receive a lifetime pension. for the amount of 75% of its regulatory base, with the corresponding improvements and revaluations. Furthermore, he is recognized for collection of this benefit with retroactive effects from February 8, 2023, date of the first denial by the INSS Provincial Directorate.
