Any self-employed person knows it’s very difficult to completely switch off and not do any work at all, but if you do work while on sick leave, it could have serious consequences.
Unlike many countries, if you’re self-employed in Spain, you can actually earn some type of sick pay – one of the reasons that social security contributions are so high here.
Spain’s Social Security office states that, “If due to illness or an accident, someone cannot temporarily carry out their own work, both the necessary health care and economic benefit may be requested”.
READ ALSO: How self-employed workers in Spain can request sick leave
It’s important to remember though, you will only be entitled to receive sick pay from the fourth day of leave. That means if you’re ill for only three days, you won’t get anything. You’ll either have to just get through work if you can or miss out on earning for a few days.
But what happens for example if you have an accident such as breaking your leg and you’re entitled to sick pay, but you’re still able to work?
A broken leg might stop you doing some self-employed activities such as a tour guide, dance teacher, personal trainer etc, but it won’t necessarily stop you if you work at a desk and do jobs such as content creation, translation or marketing.
Your doctor may give you the option of taking a baja, which means you’ll be on sick leave, but the law is very clear that if you’re claiming benefits for it, you shouldn’t be working at all.
Social Security explains that if a self-employed worker requests sick leave, it means they are unable to perform any work activities, including those related to their business. This means that invoicing, serving clients, or even performing administrative tasks during this period can be considered fraud.
This means that if the administration feels that a self-employed person is able to work, they should not be receiving any disability benefit at all, despite still being sick or injured.
READ ALSO: How long can I take off sick in Spain without a doctor’s note?
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What can I and can’t I do during sick leave?
So, if you do claim sick pay while you’re recovering from a broken leg, but still send e-mails and invoices to clients this could be considered illegal and incur heavy fines.
There’s a very fine line between what you can and can’t do during sick leave. As a freelancer, it can be very difficult to stop working completely as often you will be the only one working for your business and when you stop working, everything stops. You may also have clients relying on you and you can’t just ignore them for fear that you’ll lose them and part of your future business.
If you do have employees, then you are permitted to contact them during your sick leave in order to delegate tasks and explain certain jobs that need doing. As long as this is not ongoing and you’re not doing this everyday of your leave.
As mentioned above though, you may not perform any work-related tasks yourself, this includes sending invoices.
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Fines and penalties
According to Article 25 of the Law on Infractions and Sanctions of the Social Order (LISOS), working while on sick leave is considered a serious offence.
Penalties can range from 25 to 100 percent of the economic benefits you received during the sick leave period. This means it’s really not worth it to work at all because any money you did earn while claiming sick leave may just be taken away.
On top of this, you can also be fined. Fines can range from €150 to €6,000, depending on the severity of the offence and how many times you worked during your baja.
You may also lose the chance to receive any future benefits. This may not always even be related to sick leave. It could also jeopardise your chance to collect certain retirement or disability benefits.
In extreme cases you can even be sent to prison. According to Article 307 of the Penal Code, Social Security fraud can lead to prison sentences of six months to three years, if the amount defrauded exceeds €50,000 over four years.
