It is an agreement signed voluntarily by the workers with the Treasury General of the Social Security with the aim of generating, maintaining or extending, in certain situations, the entitlement to Social Security benefits, and with the obligation to pay the corresponding contribution payment to their exclusive account.
In other cases, such as the special agreement for companies and workers subject to labour force reduction plans that include workers of 55 years of age or over, the signing of the agreement is enforced by the Provincial Directorate of Labor and the agreement is signed by the company and the worker on the one hand and the General Treasury of the Social Security on the other
The Special Agreement will have the purpose of covering the benefits corresponding to permanent disability, death and survival, those stemming from common illness and non work-related injury, retirement and social services.
Agreements signed before 1st January 1998 had the option to sign, in a voluntary nature, the health care benefit for common illness, non work-related injury and maternity. These agreements will continue to be governed by the regulations that were applied to them. Nevertheless, after this date the option to reduce the scope of coverage of the Special Agreement is not available.
· Workers work terminate their affiliation with their current SS Scheme and are not included in any other scheme.
· Employed workers on permanent contracts and self-employed workers included in the Social Security System, as long as they have active contributor status, are aged 65 years or over and have 35 years or more of effective contributions.
· Workers or assimilated workers in a situation of multiple employment or multiple activity who stop one of the activities as an employed or self-employed worker.
· Workers or assimilated workers who end their activity as an employed or self-employed worker and have contracts with remuneration that gives rise to a contribution base below the average of the twelve months immediately prior to ending the activity.
· Recipients of total permanent disability pension for their usual occupation, who have carried out work after the effective date of the corresponding pension, were included in a Social Security Scheme and find themselves in one of the aforementioned situations.
· Workers who are receiving unemployment benefits and stop receiving them.
· Pensioners who have been declared as partially unfit for work or disabled.
· Recipients of a pension for permanent disability or retirement, whose pension has been cancelled by virtue of a final judgement.
· Workers who have terminated their affiliation by making a pension application and this application has been rejected.
The Special Agreement application shall be made by submitting the corresponding form to the Office of the General Treasury of the Social Security, which corresponds to the applicant´s home.
-There are two deadlines:
* 90 days following the termination or situation determining the special agreement.
* 1 year following the termination or situation determining the special agreement.
Have coverage of a minimum contribution period of 1,080 days in the twelve years immediately prior to cessation in the Social Security Regime in question.
For this purpose, contribution payments made in any of the Social Security System's Regimes will be taken onto account, including those corresponding to payments-days for extraordinary wage payments; those that may have been made as a consequence of another special agreement for coverage of the same economic benefits; those relating to days that are considered as an effective contribution period during the first year of extended leave of absence or a shorter period, in accordance with the legislation applicable, for care of a child or family member up to the second degree for reasons of age, accident or illness; as well as, if this were the case, the days for which payment contributions are made during the period of receiving unemployment benefits or subsidies and periods in which contribution payments are likewise made in another Member State of the European Economic Space or those in which an International Agreement exists in this respect, unless the special regulation or the International Agreement establishes differently, as long as they do not overlap nor are prior to the date of the effects of the spacial agreement which is being applied for.
Nevertheless, the days for which the applicant worker is not up to date in his or her contribution payments prior to the date on which the agreement takes effect, when the applicant worker was obliged to fulfil such obligation, will not be taken into account.
In the case of recipients of pensions for permanent disability or retirement whose right to the pension has been cancelled or terminated for any reason, this minimum contribution period must be covered at the time the obligation to pay contribution terminated.
The minimum contribution period will not be required in special agreements where the regulations so establish.
If the special agreement application has been presented within 90 calendar days following the date of the termination of the activity or of the situation which determines signing the special agreement, it will take effect from the day following that on which the cessation in the corresponding Regime becomes effective, unless the applicant opts to have it commence from the presentation of the application.
If the agreement application had been presented outside the deadline period of 90 days, it will take effect from the day on which the application is presented.
The special agreement reached with the Social Security shall be suspended, with respect to the obligation to make contributions and the corresponding protection, during the periods of activity of the worker or assimilated worker who have subscribed to it when they determine their inclusion under the scope of any of the Social Security schemes, whether in a continuous or intermittent employment situation, whenever its contribution basis is less than the contribution basis applied in the special agreement, except when the special agreement subscriber expresses his/her will to suspend the agreement or that the agreement remain in effect.
The execution of activities that lead to suspension must be notified, by the agreement subscriber, within 10 natural days following the resumption of activities, with the suspension of the special agreement going into effect from the day prior to returning to work. If the notification is made following this period, the suspension will take effect only from the date of notification.
Upon completion of the cause of suspension of the special agreement, the agreement that had been subscribed may be resumed from the day following the day on which the cause of suspension ceased, if the interested party notifies this situation to the corresponding Provincial Department of the Social Security Treasury Office or its Administration Office within the natural month following the month in which the employment termination occurred.
The special agreement will expire due to any of the following reasons:
· If, as a result of the activity they pursue, the interested party is included in the scope of application of the same Social Security Scheme in which an agreement was entered into or in another of the Social Security System Schemes, as long as the worker or assimilated worker who entered into it renders their services or pursues their new activity on a full-time or part-time, permanent or fixed-term and continuous or intermittent basis, and the new applicable contribution base is greater than or equal to the special agreement contribution base.
· If the interested party acquires pensioner status, due to retirement or permanent disability, in any of the Social Security System Schemes.
· Failure to pay the relevant contributions for three consecutive months or five alternate months, except in the event of duly proven force majeure.
· Death of the interested party.
· Decision of the interested party, notified in writing or by technical media to the Provincial Directorate or Administrative Office of the General Treasury of the Social Security. In this case, expiry of the special agreement shall be effective from the first day of the month following the date of notice.
For further details please contact VP Advisers.
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