• Employees will maintain their pension rights if they move between Member States or within Spanish territory
  • The Directive sets a minimum age of 21 years and a minimum period of 3 years to consolidate the rights

The Council of Ministers today approved the Draft Law (APL) that modifies the consolidated text of the Law regulating pension plans and funds. This transposes the European Directive on the minimum requirements to reinforce the mobility of workers between Member States by improving the acquisition and maintenance of supplementary pension rights. These rights must be recognized when workers end their employment relationship at their company prior to retirement and move between Member States.

The European Directive establishes the following minimum requirements, which are included in the APL. On the one hand, a minimum age of 21 years to consolidate these rights. In the framework of collective bargaining, a lower minimum age may be determined, but never higher than 21 years. On the other, a minimum period of 3 years in the company is established to consolidate these rights. In the framework of collective bargaining, a period of less than 3 years may be determined, but in no case longer.

The Government has decided to go further and extend the scope to national mobility, that is, these rights will also be recognized for workers who change jobs within Spanish territory and thus avoid situations of discrimination. However, in Spain it only affects group insurance (a policy contracted by the company in favor of its workers), since for employment pension plans and corporate social welfare plans, this system of consolidation of rights is already contemplated in our internal regulations.

In the event of termination of the employment relationship before 3 years old, the premiums or contributions made to the worker and the company will be reimbursed; If the cessation of the employment relationship occurs from 3 years old, the economic rights will be maintained in the original insurance contract or may be mobilized to other insurance, and will have the same treatment as that given to the rights of the workers who remain in the company (for example, variation according to yields or according to an index). And to these is added the right of workers to obtain information, at the time of termination of the employment relationship, of the acquired rights and the treatment that will be given in the future to those rights.



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