Overview of pension reforms for discontinuous fixed workers
The government is weighing steps to improve access to retirement for discontinuous fixed workers and to compensate for periods not contributing, so workers can demonstrate enough years for retirement eligibility sooner. This measure could benefit about 50,000 people in the near term, based on current affiliation data showing a share of workers over 60 years old with a discontinuous fixed contract. A source from Social Security notes that the idea is to bring retirement access for these workers to the table.
On the same day, the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security held a new meeting with employers and unions to advance pension system reform. Discussions covered several open files, including new reduced coefficients intended to extend early retirement rights to the more hazardous and demanding trades, and the greater involvement of mutual insurance companies to cover workers on medical leave due to traumatic accidents even when these occur outside the workplace.
Another key topic tackled by the department led by Elma Saiz and social partners concerns the retirement conditions for discontinuous fixed workers. Union sources from CCOO and UGT conveyed that Social Security has verbally committed to improving current conditions for this group and that proposals written for the next meeting, scheduled for April 8, will be shared in due course.
Impact on workers affected by recent changes
Discontinuous fixed workers were affected by a criterion change that came into effect last October, a change that nonetheless benefited hundreds of thousands of part-time workers. The government eliminated the partiality coefficients, a mechanism that operated until the previous year. Under the old system, a part-time worker who logged one day of work during 75% of an eight-hour workday would not have earned a full day of contribution, but only 75% of a day. Absent corrective measures, this could jeopardize long-term pension eligibility because the required contribution years might not be reached without penalties.
To prevent primarily women in part-time roles from delaying their careers, the government previously applied a partiality coefficient to offset some of those gaps. Since October 1, 2023, Social Security changed the rule so that one day of work—whether full-time or part-time—counts as one full day of contribution.
The change hurt discontinuous fixed workers because the prior lag compensation mechanism also benefited them. It helped cover days not worked during the year, especially in periods when company activity slowed and workers were laid off with a promise of reactivation in the next season.
Social Security has now committed to studying the creation of a new mechanism to offset those contribution gaps, particularly in light of the current rise of this employment form, which has grown under the latest labor reform and now sits above temporary contracts in some cases.
Pending topics for partial retirement
Elma Saiz’s department described the recent meeting as very productive with notable progress. However, unions view it with less optimism, noting that several major files remain. The biggest outstanding issue is partial retirement, which would allow workers to reduce their hours during the final years of their careers. Unions want access expanded to all sectors and tied to the reliever contract, warning that no agreement on this point would block progress on other matters.
Expanding partial retirement would incur costs for Social Security because benefits would start earlier. It would also run counter to the government’s strategy of encouraging workers to delay retirement. There are plans to reform incentives so that professionals can combine part of their pension with earnings if they choose to continue working beyond the legal retirement age. The executive has pledged to present a proposal on this topic, known technically as active retirement, at the next meeting set for April 8.
Sources: government communications and parliamentary briefs (Citations provided by institutional records), and statements from the social partners involved in the talks. Overall, the discussions reflect a careful balancing of budgetary realities with reform aims that could improve retirement access for vulnerable groups while preserving the sustainability of the pension system.