Incapacity and disability

Blog based on spanish law

It is very common among people to confuse the terms work incapacity and disability, but despite their similarities (because both refer to the physical and/or mental limitations of a person), they are completely different concepts.

To begin with, work incapacity is the physical and/or psychological limitations that affect an individual’s ability to work. That is, these limitations prevent the person himself from performing the work tasks that correspond to him.

There are 4 different degrees of incapacity for work, organized from less to more: 1) partial permanent incapacity; 2) total permanent disability; 3) absolute permanent disability; 4) severe disability.

Partial permanent incapacity is the worker’s limitations to carry out certain tasks of his usual profession, however, the worker is capable of being able to carry out different tasks from his usual profession.

Total permanent incapacity means that the worker is unable to perform any task of his usual profession.

Absolute permanent incapacity is one that completely affects the worker to carry out any type of profession.

Big disability is considered the highest degree of disability where the person is dependent on a third person to carry out the basic activities of daily life (toilet, shower, eat, etc…), therefore the person has any capacity to work.

Regarding disability, they are also the physical and/or mental limitations that a person suffers but in this case they affect their social integration as an individual, which implies not only at the labor level but also at the educational, cultural, social, etc…

Disability, isn’t evaluated in degrees, but in percentage of disability, which takes as a reference different values such as physical and mental disability, lack of mobility, communication, independence to carry out activities of life. daily, etc…).

Thus, we can observe that despite the fact that both concepts concern people with physical and/or mental limitations, in work incapacity the limitations refer to the lower working capacity of the person who suffers them, and in disability the limitations affect the individual for his integration in daily life with the rest of society, as well as their work capacity.

If you need it, at The Firm we have a large team of expert lawyers in this matter, so we can process your disability or incapacity so that you can receive the pension that corresponds to you by right.