Spain: Removal of the Obligation to Submit Sick Leave Reports to the Company

​As of April 1, Spanish employees temporarily unable to work will no longer be obliged to provide the company with a sick leave medical report.

This measure will affect the processes of temporary disability that are in progress so long as they have not exceeded 365 days of duration. The new regulation simplifies and speeds up administrative procedures for employees, although it does not exempt the worker from the obligation to inform the company of the employee's medical leave.

Modifications in the Temporary Incapacity Process

Before this regulation took effect, the physician provided the employee, in addition to the medical report, with a copy of the medical reports of sick leave, confirmation and medical discharge to be submitted, within a certain period of time, to the company, which, in turn, had to fill in certain data required in the reports and send them to the managing entity.

Under the new regulations, the professional who issues the medical report will give a copy to the employee, but it will be the public health service or, as the case may be, the mutual insurance company or the collaborating company that will send the data contained in the medical reports to the National Institute of Social Security by telematic means. The transmission of data must be carried out immediately and, in any case, on the first workday following the day of issue.

Likewise, the National Institute of Social Security will communicate to the companies the identifying data of a purely administrative nature relating to the medical reports of sick leave, confirmation and discharge issued by the physicians of the public health service or of the mutual insurance company, referring to their employees, at the latest on the first workday following the day of their receipt.

Communication Between Companies and Social Security

Companies will be obliged to transmit to the National Institute of Social Security, through the Electronic Data Remission System, immediately and, in any case, within a maximum period of three workdays from the receipt of the notification of the medical leave, the data determined by ministerial order. Failure to comply with this obligation may constitute, as the case may be, a minor infraction of those contemplated in the Law on Infractions and Sanctions in the Social Order, punishable, in this case, with a fine of 70 to 750 euros.

The medical staff may set medical review periods shorter than those indicated depending on the evolution of the temporary incapacity process. Therefore, it is recommended that employees undergo the necessary medical check-ups to ensure their prompt recovery and the completion of the medical leave process.

Mutual Insurance Developments

Mutual insurance companies cannot issue sick leave or medical discharges in the process of temporary incapacity due to common illness (as is the case with professional contingencies); but they can make discharge proposals when they consider that the worker is able to return to work. However, with the regulatory change introduced, the mutual insurance companies will not be able to contact the National Social Security Institute if the public health service rejects their discharge proposal.

In addition, it has been established that in cases in which the medical leave lasts for more than 365 days, the National Institute of Social Security will be in charge of assessing the situation of temporary disability, and not the mutual insurance companies, as was the case until now.

These changes are aimed at improving the social protection of employees, guaranteeing adequate health care and economic benefits in the event of illness or accident at work. They also seek to prevent mutual insurance companies from putting undue pressure on workers to return to work before they are fully recovered, thus protecting workers' rights.

Eva Otaegui is an attorney with Osborne Clarke in Barcelona, Spain. Patricia de la Torre is an attorney with Osborne Clarke in Madrid. © 2023 Osborne Clarke. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission of Lexology.