The Social Room of the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León has rejected the request of the National Social Security Institute (INSS) to annul the pension for total permanent disability granted to a truck driver affected by the loss of vision in one of your eyes. The decision was made after analyzing new medical evidence and legal requirements.
The medical records included in the file show that the driver was unemployed since January 2023 when he lost his aptitude to drive. The valuation report of March of that year already referred monocular vision and apnea treated with CPAPbut one of the unprecedented points provided by recent documentation is that the ophthalmological examination February 2024 confirmed that the right eye does not improve even with glasses, forcing the worker to depend solely on the left eye for all distances and maneuvers.
In February 2024, specialists indicated that visual acuity of the right eye was 0.25while the left one had perfect vision. This difference forces the affected person to avoid using the affected eye so that double vision does not occur.
The driver could perform other tasks
However, Social Security maintained that loss of vision in one eye does not automatically imply total permanent disability. The entity alleged, in its presentation, that the driver could carry out other tasks in the sector or drive smaller vehicles, even with certain limitationsand that the law does not require absolute disqualification to collect the pension.
He further interpreted that the loss of permits for large trucks do not deprive completely to the worker of job possibilities, and that only in strict cases of total impossibility should total permanent disability be granted in the terms requested.
For their part, the worker and his lawyer argued that their specialty is driving heavy trucks, for which vision in both eyes is essential. They argued that the loss of the specific permit and the subsequent dismissal materially prove the impossibility to continue practicing the profession. The file also indicates the existence of problems calculating distances, limited reaction and an increased risk due to sleep apnea, factors that aggravate his inability.
A monthly base of 1,319.69 euros
After analyzing the arguments, the TSJ of Castilla y León has followed two lines of interpretation to reach its conclusion on labor matters: on the one hand, jobs that are “highly visually demanding”, such as driving cranes or trucksthe loss of vision in one eye enables the recognition of total permanent disability; On the other hand, in tasks with lower visual requirements, the justice system usually grants only partial disability or even does not recognize the right to a pension when the functional limitation does not exceed 33%.
The Court emphasizes that it is not appropriate to apply generic criteria or automatic and that the analysis must be based on the specific demands of the job. In this case, the danger and risk to third parties are decisive.
Among the court’s arguments, it stands out that “the profession of truck driver requires binocular vision to calculate distances and safety”, a conclusion that supports the recognition of total permanent disability based on the provisions of the General Social Security Law, Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015.
In this way, the magistrates have confirmed the total permanent disability of the worker, setting the regulatory base of the pension at 1,319.69 euros per month, equivalent to 55% of their base salary.
