What a good question: can the self-employed really take time off work? The answer is yes, and they do, even if we think it is impossible. Today we are going to see the differences compared to the salaried worker, amounts that are received and limits, you can also know the types of incapacity for work that exist.
Self-employed workers and their resistance to sick leave
The truth is that it is true that the self-employed look like superheroes, we do. By all means we are going to avoid taking temporary disability if it is in our power. On the other hand, as salaried workers are better paid for temporary sick leave, it is more common for them to take it.
However, the statistics are clear as well, and we cannot argue against this:
- Out of every 1,000 workers, around 2% of salaried employees take temporary incapacity, compared to 1% of self-employed workers (i.e., it is not that we do not take sick leave, but that we do it half the time).
- Compared to an average of 37 days of sick leave for salaried workers, the average for self-employed workers is 87 days.
This is important, because it reflects the self-employed person’s desire not to take sick leave, but when he does it is usually because it is a serious matter, so that he is unable to practice his profession for more days.
How does a self-employed person’s cancellation work?
In this respect, it differs greatly from that of an employee. A self-employed person is free to decide his or her contribution base (on the basis of which he or she will pay a social security contribution).
In 80% of the cases, you choose to pay the minimum contribution (about 920 €/month) so the sick leave benefit is very small, 60% or 75% of that amount. BUT BEWARE: the self-employed contribution must continue to be paid during the sick leave.
To summarize: if the temporary disability is due to a common contingency, we will receive (those who pay the minimum contribution) about 550 euros per month and 690 euros from the 21st day onwards. If it is due to an accident at work or an occupational disease, it will be around 700 euros per month, as we have said, from which 275 euros of contribution must be deducted.
The time limit of a temporary sick leave is 365 days, which will only be extended for a further 6 months if the Evaluation Team considers that permanent disability should not be granted due to a forecast of improvement in the near future.
Temporary sick leave insurance for the self-employed?
The self-employed, in order to counteract this problem, have to three alternatives:
- Do nothing: as long as we are healthy, nothing happens. If we have a major health issue, we could run into serious problems.
- Raising the contribution base: this has an impact on our Social Security benefits, and also on what we have to pay. An example: if we raise our contribution base from 920 to 1,500 euros, we will pay a monthly contribution of just over 400 euros, and for sick leave we would receive 900 euros up to the 20th day and 1,125 euros thereafter.
- Take out sick leave insurance: this will complement what we receive from Social Security, and its cost is deductible in income.
Our opinion: as we have seen, raising our contribution base by 50% means paying 1,500 euros more to the Social Security, in order to receive about 450 euros more per month in the event of sick leave. On the other hand, taking out a sick leave insurance policy that pays us 900 euros per month can cost us 200 euros per year (depending on the profession and age), compared with the 1,500 euros that it would cost to increase the base.
If you want to find out the cost of a sick leave insurance that would solve the problem of a temporary disability, contact us. We work with the best sick leave insurance companies for the self-employed in Spain.
