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Financial protection during pregnancy and breastfeeding

When your job may affect your pregnancy or breastfeeding of your child, the law recognises specific protection. The benefit for risk during pregnancy (REM) and for risk during breastfeeding of children under 9 months of age (RLN) guarantees you financial benefit while your contract is suspended or your professional activity is interrupted, provided that there is a risk linked to the conditions of your position and it is not possible to adapt it or change it for another compatible one.

On this page we explain, step by step and in clear language, what the benefit covers, what you need and how to process it with FREMAP.

Who can request the benefit?

The benefit for risk during pregnancy and for risk during breastfeeding is aimed at working women, both employed and self-employed, who are affiliated and registered with the Social Security on the date the contract is suspended or the activity is interrupted. This also includes part-time work. 

In the case of employed workers, they are considered to be fully registered for the purposes of the benefit, even if the company has not fulfilled its registration and contribution obligations (this may generate liability for the company, but does not leave you without protection). 

For self-employed women, it is required to be registered in the corresponding regime (RETA, SETA, etc.) and up-to-date with payment of contributions that have not expired.  

In certain cases, the REM/RLN leave of civil servants integrated into the General Regime and included in the scope of application of the Basic Statute of Public Employees is also considered a protected situation.

Conditions for being entitled to the subsidy

To access the benefit, three sets of requirements must be met: protected status, registration/contribution and formal requirements. 

1. Protected situation:

  • There must be a specific risk to your pregnancy, fetus or infant, derived from agents, procedures or working conditions of your position, which necessarily entails, and as a last resort, the suspension of your employment contract or interruption of your professional activity, and not from an illness specific to pregnancy (when it is not related to agents, procedures or working conditions of the position held).
  • In the case of employees, the company must have specifically assessed the risk (carrying out an ADDITIONAL risk assessment and monitoring the worker's health) and have attempted to adapt the job (or working time) or change the job prior to the suspension. Only if this is not possible, the suspension and benefit is considered.

2. Affiliation and registration:

  • Be affiliated and registered in the relevant Social Security scheme. For employed workers, registration is presumed even if the company has not processed it.  

3. Contribution:

  • Self-employed women and agricultural workers are required to be up-to-date with their social security contributions; if there is a debt, a request to pay within the deadline is offered so as not to lose the right (with possible reductions if it is settled after 30 calendar days from our request).

Documents you will need to provide

The procedure has two main moments: first, obtaining the medical certificate of risk and then (if the FREMAP medical services have certified the risk and neither adaptation nor change of position has been possible) applying for the financial benefit. The key documentation is:

1. For the medical certificate of risk (REM or RLN): 

  • Report from the Public Health Service (SPS): 
    • In REM: proof of pregnancy and expected delivery date.
    • In RLN: proves breastfeeding status.
  • Company certificate: describe the activity, job conditions, risks, adaptation measures attempted and why they have not been sufficient.
  • Job risk assessment and list of risk-free jobs.
  • For self-employed workers, a declaration from the worker regarding the activity carried out, as well as the non-existence of a compatible job or function in such activity. When it comes to a self-employed worker who provides services in cooperatives or worker-owned or commercial companies, this statement must be made by the company's administrator. If the worker is an economically dependent self-employed worker, the aforementioned statement must be made by her customer. Proof of the last contributions paid.

2. To apply for benefits with FREMAP: 

  • FREMAP medical certificate (positive or delayed to a future risk date).
  • Statement from the company or self-employed worker with the date of suspension of the contract or interruption of the activity.
  • Health surveillance report (employed workers).
  • Company certificate with the contribution base.
  • Statement of activity status (self-employed) and Personal Income Tax and bank details.

When does it start and how long does it last?

The benefit is granted from the moment that, given the proven risk, a compatible job change is not possible and the employment relationship is suspended or the self-employment activity is interrupted. 

Start of the REM benefit:

  • Based on the FREMAP medical certificate, the triggering event (protected situation) is the suspension of the employment contract or the interruption of the self-employed worker's activity, without prejudice to the preventive measures that the company may have previously decided.
  • The financial benefit begins on the same day that the suspension of the employment contract begins (employees) or the day after the medical certificate is issued by the FREMAP medical services, although the economic effects will occur, in any case, from the date of the effective cessation of the corresponding professional activity (self-employed).

End of the REM:

  • It ends the day before the start of the leave for birth and childcare. 

Start of the RLN:

  • It can only be recognised when it does not coincide with the leave for birth and childcare.

End of the RLN:

  • It ends the day before the child turns 9 months old, or earlier if you return to work without risk.

FREMAP must issue an express agreement recognising or denying the benefit within 30 business days from the request, unless suspended by a report from the Labour Inspectorate. 

How to process your benefit step by step

The itinerary for the worker is simple if we look at it in phases:

1

Inform your company or customer that you are pregnant or breastfeeding, and request health surveillance and risk assessment for your position.

2

The company's Health and Safety Service assesses whether there is a specific risk and whether the job or working time can be adapted (these adaptation measures will include, when necessary, not performing night work or shift work).

3

If the adaptation is not possible, make an appointment with FREMAP so that their medical services can assess the risk and issue the REM/RLN medical certificate, if applicable.

4

With the FREMAP medical certificate, the company (or you, if you are self-employed) decides on the change of position or the suspension of the contract/activity.

5

If a change of position is not possible, submit the application for financial benefit to FREMAP, with an electronic signature or signed on paper format, along with the required documentation (certificates, reports, status statement, bank details).

6

You will receive the written agreement of acceptance or rejection and, if favourable, the periodic payment of the subsidy.

The benefit for risk during pregnancy and breastfeeding is regulated in the General Social Security Act (LGSS), which considers that these benefits arise from professional contingencies (Arts. 186 to 189) and in Royal Decree 295/2009 (RDR), developing the conditions of access, amount and procedure.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act and the regulations for prevention services establish the obligation of the company to assess the specific risks for pregnant or breastfeeding workers, adapt the job position or working time and, only as a last resort, suspend the employment contract (in accordance with the Workers' Statute).

FREMAP's medical services assess, on a case-by-case basis, the existence of risk and impossibility of adaptation, as well as the need for a change of position, relying on the clinical guidelines of the Spanish Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (SEGO) for REM and the Spanish Association of Paediatrics (AEP) for RLN.

The amount of the subsidy is 100% of the benefits base for professional contingencies, as it is equivalent to temporary disability due to a work-related accident. Except when the scheme in question does not provide coverage for professional contingencies.

Is “high-risk pregnancy” the same as “risk during pregnancy (REM)”?

No. “High-risk pregnancy” is a medical situation that is processed as temporary disability (TD) when you need treatment or rest. REM only exists when the risk comes from your job and cannot be eliminated by adapting conditions or changing jobs. 

Can I collect the TD and REM/RLN benefits at the same time?

Generally speaking, no. The regulations do not allow simultaneously receiving the TD subsidy and the risk subsidy in the same activity. If you're in TD, that situation must be resolved before assessing the risk, and vice versa. 

As an exception, it considers the possibility that the worker in a situation of multi-employment or multi-activity (in different Social Security schemes) may simultaneously receive the benefit for risk during pregnancy or breastfeeding for some of her activities and continue her paid work in others, when these do not pose a risk to her health or that of the fetus. Consequently, in these cases, we may encounter cases of sick leave in those activities compatible with receiving the financial benefit for risk during pregnancy, making both types of subsidies compatible.

What happens if my company has not paid social security contributions or registered me?

When employed, the law protects you: you are considered to be fully registered and FREMAP can advance the benefit, claiming it later from the company. In the case of self-employed and agricultural workers, it is necessary to be up-to-date with the contributions within the deadlines for the payment request. 

Is the benefit compatible with another activity?

The benefit protects against the risk in the specific activity that is suspended. In cases of multi-activity, the risk must be assessed in each activity and different situations may coexist depending on the entity that covers each contingency.

When the risk situation affects one or some of the activities carried out by the worker, but not all of them, she will only be entitled to the subsidy in the scheme that includes the activities in which said risk exists. Receiving the subsidy will be compatible with carrying on to perform those activities that the worker was already performing or could begin to perform and that do not involve risk during pregnancy.

I am a company, can I obtain a bonus?

In cases where the worker is assigned to a different job or function compatible with her condition, a bonus of 138 euros/month is applied from 1 September 2023, and the company must prove the risk situation through the report of results of the risk assessment referred to in Art. 16.2 of Law 31/1995, of 8 November. Article 19 of Royal Decree-Law 1/2023, of 10 January.

  • Royal-Decree Law 1/2023