Sick leave after a work accident in Spain

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The calculator already has “work accident” selected as the cause: enter your base and the days and compare with an ordinary illness.

You work as

On your payslip: “base de contingencias comunes”

With extra payments spread over the year

More details
Monthly pay and registered all month?

Only for work accidents and occupational disease

Serious illness listed in your agreement?

Your pay for 30 days of leave

€1,365

Work accident (or commuting) · September 2026 base (rule in force until 30 November 2026: the previous month)

Daily regulatory base€60
Statutory benefit€1,365
Wage for the day of leave (employer)€60
Paid by the INSS or mutua€1,305
Without leave you would have earned (gross)€1,800

Gross amounts: the benefit is subject to income tax and contributions. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

How this is calculated
DaysDates%Who paysAmount
129 Oct 2026100%Employer: day’s wage€60
2-3030 Oct 2026 – 27 Nov 202675%INSS or mutua (advanced by the employer)€1,305

Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · Rules and agreements read in the BOE on 29 October 2026

A work accident is any injury you suffer in the course of or as a result of your work, and the law presumes that any injury during working time and at the workplace is one. The leave pays better than an ordinary illness: on the day of the accident the employer pays your full wage and from the next day you receive 75% of the regulatory base, with no waiting days and no 60% band. The base also adds the previous year's overtime divided by 365. No contribution days are required. With a daily base of 60 euros, 15 days of leave after a work accident pay €690, against €432 for an ordinary illness. The payer is the mutua your employer uses for occupational risks, or the INSS if the employer is covered by it.

How much you get compared with an ordinary illness

Article 173.1 of the General Social Security Act puts the full wage for the first day on the employer and starts the benefit the next day; article 2 of Decree 3158/1966 sets the rate at 75%. The table compares, on the same daily base of €60, what you get for each cause.

Gross amount on a daily base of €60; the accident includes the day 1 wage
Days of leaveWork accidentOrdinary illnessDifference
7€330.00€144.00€186.00
15€690.00€432.00€258.00
30€1,365.00€1,062.00€303.00
90€4,065.00€3,762.00€303.00

The gap matters most for short leave, because that is where an ordinary illness has its three unpaid days and its 60% band. If you also worked overtime, the base rises: with an 1800 euro base and 2190 euros of overtime the year before, the daily base becomes €66.00. How the base is worked out is in regulatory base.

What counts as a work accident

Article 156 of the same Act covers injuries during the working day, those suffered on the way to or from work, explained in commuting accidents, those that happen while doing tasks outside your role on the employer's orders, those linked to union posts, and illnesses caused solely by work that are not on the list of occupational diseases. It also covers earlier conditions made worse by the accident. Excluded are accidents due to force majeure unrelated to work, which never includes sunstroke or lightning, and those caused intentionally or through gross recklessness.

Your work accident leave

Your pay for 30 days of leave

€1,365

Daily regulatory base€60
Statutory benefit€1,365
Wage for the day of leave (employer)€60
Paid by the INSS or mutua€1,305
Work it out with all the details →

If the mutua says it is not work-related

Sometimes the mutua rejects the accident and sends you to your family doctor, who signs you off for ordinary illness. You can ask the INSS to determine the cause, under the procedure in Royal Decree 1430/2009 as rewritten by a final provision of Royal Decree 625/2014. The INSS gives the bodies involved four working days to report and gives you ten to provide documents and arguments. Meanwhile you are paid as for ordinary illness, and if the work-related nature is recognised, the mutua pays you the difference. The deadlines of sick leave are summed up in deadlines.

Common questions

What can I do if I was signed off for ordinary illness but it was an accident?

You can ask the INSS to determine the cause. The procedure starts at your request, with the evidence of the accident: the employer’s report, witnesses, the emergency report. While it is being decided you are paid as for ordinary illness, and if the INSS finds it work-related, the mutua pays you the difference from the start.

Is a heart attack at work a work accident?

The law presumes that any injury suffered during working time and at the workplace is a work accident, unless proven otherwise. That includes sudden conditions such as a heart attack or a stroke during the working day. The paying body may try to show it had nothing to do with work, but the burden of proof is on it.

Do I get 75% even if the accident was my fault?

Yes, unless there was intent or gross recklessness. Professional carelessness, the kind that comes from the confidence of doing the same job every day, does not stop it being a work accident. Nor does fault by a colleague or a third party. What is excluded is an accident caused on purpose or through an obvious and needless risk.

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Publisher of free calculators on Spanish sick leave (incapacidad temporal): regulatory base, benefit by day band, employer versus INSS or mutua payments, collective-agreement top-ups and the self-employed

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As of 2026, rules and agreements read in the BOE on