Sick leave in Spain, known locally as baja laboral, pays workers a percentage of their earnings through the Social Security system when illness or injury keeps them from working. How much you get, how soon it starts, and how long it lasts depend on whether the cause is work-related, how long you have been contributing, and what your collective bargaining agreement adds on top of the legal minimum.
Who Qualifies
You have to be registered and actively contributing to Social Security (the status called alta). Beyond that, the rules split by cause:
- Common illness or a non-work injury: you need at least 180 days of Social Security contributions in the five years before the leave begins.
- Workplace accident or occupational disease: no minimum contribution period. If you are registered, you qualify from day one.
That 180-day threshold is what most often catches out newer workers. Start a job four months ago and come down with pneumonia, and you will not qualify for temporary disability unless you had enough prior contributions from an earlier position. Work-related conditions carry no such barrier because the system treats them as risks built into the job itself.
How Much You Get Paid
Your benefit is calculated from the base reguladora, which is essentially your average daily earnings from the month before your leave. The percentages and who pays them change at set milestones.
Common Illness or Non-Work Injury
- Days 1 to 3: no statutory payment. Many collective agreements fill this gap, but the legal floor is zero.
- Days 4 to 15: your employer pays 60% of your daily base rate.
- Days 16 to 20: still 60%, but Social Security or your employer’s mutual insurance company (Mutua) takes over.
- Day 21 onward: 75% of your daily base rate, paid by Social Security or the Mutua.
The three unpaid days at the start surprise a lot of workers. In practice, many never feel them because a collective agreement or individual contract tops pay up, sometimes to 100% of salary for the whole leave. Check your agreement before you assume the worst.
Workplace Accident or Occupational Disease
The structure here is simpler and more generous. Your employer pays your full salary for the day of the accident, treated as a normal workday. From the next day forward you receive 75% of your daily base rate, paid by the Mutua or Social Security. No three-day unpaid gap, no 60% tier. The reasoning is straightforward: if you were hurt doing your job, the system does not make you wait or take a cut.
Starting the Leave
Sick leave begins with a medical certificate called a parte de baja, issued by a doctor at your public health center or at your employer’s Mutua depending on whether the condition is common or work-related. That certificate is the legal document that confirms you cannot work and triggers your benefit payments. The doctor also sets an expected recovery window, which determines how often you will be called back for review.
Since Royal Decree 1060/2022, you no longer have to hand-deliver anything. Your doctor’s office or Mutua sends the certificate electronically to the National Institute of Social Security (INSS), which forwards the information to your employer through the RED electronic data system. You get an informational copy for your records. Once notified, your employer has three business days to submit your payroll data to the INSS so the benefit can be calculated.
One point worth flagging: the reform removed the duty to submit the paper report, not the duty to tell your employer you are out. A call or message to your manager is enough to satisfy the general obligation to communicate.
How Long Benefits Can Last
Temporary disability runs for a maximum of 365 days from the start of your leave. If the INSS thinks you are likely to recover within a few more months, it can grant a single extension of up to 180 days, bringing the ceiling to 545 days.
At 545 days the INSS must review your case and choose one of three paths:
- Medical discharge, clearing you to return to work.
- An exceptional extension of up to another 180 days when recovery still looks possible, pushing the absolute maximum to 730 days.
- Opening a permanent disability file, which must be processed and decided within three months.
If your condition is not expected to improve, you transition out of temporary disability into one of Spain’s permanent disability categories, each with its own income replacement rate. That is a separate track with its own assessment and appeal rights.
What You Have to Do While on Leave
Sick leave is not a blank check. Several obligations attach to your benefit, and breaking them can suspend or end payments.
You must attend every scheduled medical review. Miss an appointment and your benefit is suspended as a precaution until you appear. You cannot work for any employer or as a self-employed worker while collecting temporary disability. And you must follow the treatment your doctor prescribes; refusing or abandoning it is grounds for losing the benefit outright. Fraud is treated especially harshly, with loss of benefits and potential legal consequences. Workers on strike or affected by a lockout have no right to temporary disability during those periods.
Can You Be Fired While on Sick Leave
This is one of the most common worries, and Spanish law offers strong protection. Under Law 15/2022, Spain’s comprehensive anti-discrimination statute, illness cannot be used to justify differential treatment in employment, including dismissal.
If your employer fires you during a baja and a court finds that the real reason was your medical condition, the dismissal is classified as nulo (null). That is the harshest possible outcome for an employer: they must reinstate you in your previous position and pay every euro you would have earned between the firing and the reinstatement.
Employers can still dismiss workers on sick leave for legitimate economic, organizational, or disciplinary reasons unrelated to the illness. But the burden of proof shifts. The employer has to convincingly show the decision had nothing to do with the leave. Employment lawyers generally advise against firing during a baja without airtight documentation of an independent reason.
Self-Employed Workers (Autónomos)
Autónomos registered in Spain’s RETA regime have access to the same system, with some practical differences. Eligibility mirrors employed workers: 180 days of contributions in the last five years for common illness, no minimum for work accidents or occupational disease. You must also be current on all payments to the public administration.
The pay structure is identical on paper: no benefit for the first three days of common illness, 60% from days 4 through 20, and 75% from day 21 onward. Work-related conditions pay 75% from day one. The financial hit lands harder for autónomos, though, because no employer covers any part of the early period, and the 60% rate applies to your chosen contribution base, which many freelancers set at or near the minimum.
One real relief: after 60 days of sick leave, you stop paying your monthly autónomo quota, which removes a significant recurring expense during a long absence. Autónomos must notify the relevant authority within 15 days of going on leave. The 365-day maximum and 180-day extension apply the same way.
Returning to Work and Relapses
When your doctor decides you have recovered, they issue a medical discharge certificate (parte de alta) and you return to your position. Your employer must take you back into the same role or an equivalent one.
If the same condition returns within 180 days of your discharge, Spain treats it as a continuation of the original leave, not a new episode. You do not need to re-satisfy any contribution requirement, and the days from the earlier leave count against the 365-day maximum. If you used 200 days, got cleared, and relapsed two months later, your counter resumes at day 201 rather than restarting.
A relapse after 180 days, or a completely different condition, starts a fresh leave with its own 365-day clock. That distinction can significantly change how much total leave time you have available if you are dealing with a recurring health issue.
When Collective Agreements Improve on the Law
Everything above is the legal floor. Collective bargaining agreements (convenios colectivos) frequently improve on it. The most common enhancement is topping up sick pay to 100% of salary, wiping out the income drop workers would otherwise take. Some agreements also cover the three unpaid days at the start of a common illness leave, or grant extra paid days for specific conditions.
Your individual employment contract can add further protection on top of both the law and the agreement. The hierarchy runs in one direction: agreements and contracts can give you more than the law requires, never less. If you are not sure what applies to you, your HR department or a union representative can identify the convenio that governs your position and what it changes about the default rules.