The labor advisor Andrés Barreto, has denounced the "shameful" situation experienced by many employees who have suffered a work accident or are incapacitated by illness, who have to endure the administration "not paying their pensions, an essential money for them".
The workers' representative has detailed in an interview on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero that in 2022 he had between 12 and 14 sentences of cases of people who have not received their corresponding money due to disability. This trend continues in 2023, where there are a dozen cases of this type pending.
The professional cites the case of a client who suffered a work accident in 2018 as an example. After 18 months, the Social Security and the mutual insurance company determined that he was already able to return to his position, so they discharged him.
However, Barreto and the employee appealed this decision to the court, which ruled last April 2022 that the administration had been wrong, so they had to return the pension for the months that passed since they discharged him: "But as of today, nine months have passed, the worker has not yet received anything".
Need for professionals to help them and waiting times worsen the situation
Beyond this, in the opinion of the representative, the most "serious" thing of all is that these people have to invest their own money in proving that they are indeed sick, through the hiring of a professional to handle the lawsuit and a medical expert to certify their condition, "which is at least 800 euros".
Added to this is another problem, the lengthening of resolution times: "There are executions that I requested in September 2022 whose trials are scheduled for May 2023".
Therefore, the advisor calls this situation "outrageous", even more so when it comes to cases of elderly people or people who do not have resources beyond their salary or, in this case, their perception of 75% due to sick leave. "Many affected people live in rented accommodation, how do they pay for it in this case? What do they live on? We are talking about pensions of 700 or 800 euros that are essential for them".
Therefore, Barreto criticizes that "it is unacceptable for Social Security to play with workers and that, despite the requirement that we request that the decisions made by the courts be complied with, they do nothing".
