Luis Ortiga, a Spanish retiree, was forced to retire involuntarily at age 61, after having contributed for more than 45 years to Spain's Social Security. He started working at age 14 and went through periods of 42, 45, or 48-hour work weeks. Despite such a long contributory career, he lost 24% of his pension base, a reduction that is permanent and does not disappear when he reaches the normal retirement age.
The 24% cut is provided for in the Spanish table of reduction coefficients for involuntary early retirement. This modality allows advancing the normal pension access age by up to four years, subject to conditions such as at least 33 years of contributions and six months of registration as a job seeker. In the official table, an advancement of 48 months implies a 24% cut for those who contributed for at least 44 years and six months, which corresponds exactly to Luis's situation.
Luis considers this situation unjust and advocates for the creation of a specific regime for those who started contributing very young and accumulated a particularly long career. The retiree compares his situation to that of professionals subject to arduous, dangerous, or unhealthy activities, who in Spain may benefit from reductions in the retirement age. However, there is no single rule that allows everyone to retire at 59 or 60 with the full pension.
In Portugal, the outcome could be different. Those with at least 48 years of contributions can retire from age 60 without reduction for early withdrawal. The same applies to those with 46 years of contributions who started contributing before age 17. Thus, if Luis had accumulated at least 46 full years of contributions in Portugal, he could, in principle, receive his pension without the cuts applied in Spain.
