• It upholds the right to a new leave for temporary disability without waiting 180 days if the INSS does not prove recovery.

Recent Supreme Court rulings, such as STS 381/2025 and other similar decisions, limit the automatic denials of new medical leaves by determining that, when a person has exhausted the maximum duration of a temporary disability and subsequently suffers a relapse of the same pathology, the right to receive a new medical leave can be generated without having to wait 180 days, provided that the National Institute of Social Security does not objectively accredit the effective recovery of the working capacity.

Traditionally, the General Social Security Law (LGSS) requires a qualifying period of 180 days to initiate a new entitlement to temporary disability benefits after medical discharge. However, according to the interpretation of the Supreme Court:

1. The 180-day period alone is not sufficient to deny a new temporary disability.
2. The Administration has the burden of justifying and proving the non-existence of relapse or lack of real improvement.
3. Medical discharges without clinical support may be challenged and declared null and void.
4. The employee has the right to provide medical reports and to go to court if necessary.

In this regard, Maria Gomes, director of the Labor Law area of the Firm, emphasizes that “the rulings handed down in 2025 confirm that the INSS cannot act automatically when granting medical discharges or denying new sick leaves, but must base its decisions on objective and duly justified medical criteria” and reminds that “the worker has legal tools to defend his right to a full recovery and access to the corresponding benefits when the disability persists”.