Business responsibility in the benefit for work accidents, the axis of the new “Meetings with the Mutual Fund”
Fraternidad-Muprespa held this Thursday a new edition of the “Meetings with the Mutual” cycle, a technical and practical space of specialized sessions that addresses issues of interest to companies and professionals linked to the management of benefits and Social Security regulations.
On this occasion, the webinar, with the title "Jurisprudential analysis of the declaration of corporate responsibility" It has been based on the analysis of different situations that have reached the courts and the jurisprudence issued around them.
The session, which was attended by more than 300 people, was presented by Silvia Vela, director of the Communication Department of Fraternidad-Muprespa, who gave way to the speaker,Beatriz Rodríguez-Patiño, lawyer at the Mutua Legal Services Center. Graduated in Law from the University of Castilla-La Mancha and with a master's degree in Labor Legal Advice, she practiced for more than ten years as a lawyer specialized in labor-legal advice, before joining Fraternidad-Muprespa in 2018.
Rodríguez-Patiño began his intervention by analyzing the framework of corporate responsibility in terms of affiliation, registrations, cancellations and contributions, in relation to the principle of automaticity of benefits, based on article 167 of the General Social Security Law, and highlighted that the absence of registration or non-payment of contributions do not by themselves leave the worker without protection against a work accident. However, it is necessary to determine who must ultimately bear the cost of the benefits paid.
Lack of registration, absence of contribution and under-pricing
One of the main blocks of the webinar was dedicated to the analysis of three types of corporate non-compliance:lack of discharge, the absence of quote and the underpricing.
Through different rulings, the speaker explained that the legal consequences may vary depending on the specific circumstances of each case. Thus, in cases of lack of discharge, the importance of determining when the provision of services began, when the accident occurred and when the discharge occurred was highlighted.
In relation to quotation overdrafts, he pointed out that Not every non-payment automatically generates corporate liability, but aspects such as its duration, continuity and the circumstances existing at the time of the accident must be assessed. It also addressed the cases of under-quotation, differentiating them from the total absence of quotation.
Scope of liability, advance payment of benefits and right of repetition and prescription
Another central aspect was the scope of corporate responsibility once declared. Based on different rulings of the Supreme Court, Rodríguez-Patiño explained that this may include concepts such as health care, temporary disability or certain permanent disability benefits, depending on the characteristics of the non-compliance.
He also stressed the need to differentiate between the advance payment of benefits by the Mutual and the final allocation of its cost. “The fact that the Mutual Fund anticipates a benefit does not mean that it must assume it definitively when there is a declared corporate responsibility.”.
The session also addressed the right of repetition, analyzing how the Mutual Fund can recover the advance amounts when there is corporate liability. In this context, Rodríguez-Patiño highlighted the importance of proving the company's insolvency so that the subsidiary guarantee can operate.
Finally, he explained the prescription periods for the recovery action, with special reference to the five-year period applied by the Supreme Court for claims for early benefits by the Mutual Fund.
In conclusion, Beatriz Rodríguez-Patiño insisted that “each breach requires an individual analysis, taking into account the specific circumstances of the case and the available evidence”.
The session ended with a question period in which the speaker answered different questions about the communication of discharge on the same day of the accident, the effects of contribution overdrafts and the recovery of amounts advanced by the Mutual Fund when the responsible company becomes insolvent.
