The salary is the average over the reference period (the six calendar months preceding the second month before the impediment). The days are the ones the doctor certifies: for clinical risk the law sets no limit.

This absence pays €606.00 more than ordinary sick leave would, and the gap has two independent causes: the rate is 100 % instead of the 55 % of the first band, and the benefit starts on the first day instead of the fourth. It is not the same benefit under another name, it is a different benefit.

Article 39 starts the benefit «on the 1st day of impediment to work for which no pay is due», so the first day is paid. Under ordinary sick leave the first three days are not paid at all.

Six calendar months, consecutive or not, with registered earnings are required at the date of the impediment (article 25(1)). This calculation does not check that condition.

The benefit cannot be drawn together with employment income (article 42) and carries no Social Security contributions and no income tax, so the figures are net.

These are the contributory benefits. The SOCIAL versions, for those without a sufficient contribution record, were repealed by Decree-Law 166/2026 and are claimed as the Prestação Social Única from 31 December 2026.