Spain's Social Security has launched a national sick-note relay in which every worker on temporary incapacity must hand-carry the medical certificate from the clinic to the regional office, by foot, bicycle or rail, before the benefit can be processed. The ministry says the measure follows a civil servant's remark that fraud exists but is not the main driver of rising absence, and that the department therefore intends to verify each case in person rather than on paper.
The first leg runs from the Hospital de Ciudad Real to the Seville provincial office, a distance of roughly 530 kilometres. Officials say the route was chosen because it crosses the most dense concentration of employer federations in the country. Relay runners are issued standard blue folders, a laminated badge and a timetable that requires each handover within 40 minutes at every station. Sixteen ministry staff have already been assigned to the route, and two regional offices have been relocated to train stations to shorten the chain.
Employers' associations have welcomed the scheme. A spokesperson for the Castilla-La Mancha federation said: «If the absence is genuine, the worker will be glad to walk it, and if it is not, the walk will settle the matter.» Trade unions have described the relay as a rehearsal for a permanent system, and the ministry has confirmed that a second route, from Bilbao to Málaga, will open next month, with a waiting room at each stop for patients still awaiting surgery.
Officials insist the relay is temporary and will be reviewed once the first certificates have arrived. Until then, the ministry's canteen has been asked to serve only lunches that can be eaten standing up, and the Social Security headquarters has installed a second bicycle rack in its car park.