Statement of claim to the Pension Fund

When a pensioner’s rights are violated, he or she can go to court to protect them if the issue cannot be resolved directly with the Pension Fund. As practice shows, attempts to act directly often end in a refusal, no matter what the issue is – recalculation of pensions based on an updated certificate of financial support, refund of the 2000 UAH surcharge, or any other requests. Unfortunately, the Pension Fund does not always side with pensioners. Therefore, it is not surprising that a large percentage of cases heard in administrative courts relate to pension issues, and the Pension Fund is the defendant in these cases.

How does the law regulate going to court?

The right to go to court and the method of judicial protection are defined in paragraphs 3 and 4 of part 1 of Article 5, as well as in part 2 of Article 5 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine. In particular, the Code states that a court may be applied to when the plaintiff considers the actions or inaction of a public authority to be unlawful. In the described category of cases, such an entity is the Pension Fund.

The team of the Prikhodko & Partners Law Firm regularly deals with representing the interests of its clients in court. This applies not only to pension law issues, but also to appeals that are at the intersection of several branches of jurisprudence, for example, pension and military law when it comes to military retirees.

If we talk about the actual practice of interaction with the judiciary, we can only note positive trends. Legislation, as well as decisions of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts, are in the vast majority of cases on the side of pensioners. Therefore, in cases where Pension Fund officials have refused a pensioner’s request, administrative courts make completely different decisions.

What kind of requests do our clients come to us with?

There may be many grounds for going to court regarding unlawful actions, inaction or decisions of the Pension Fund. However, there are some common requests that can be conditionally divided into groups.

Military pensions

This includes pension issues addressed by military personnel and former police officers. So, we are talking about

• recalculation of pensions, taking into account the entire list of allowances, raises, bonuses and surcharges for those who became pensioners before 2018;
• refund of the additional payment in the amount of UAH 2000, in accordance with the provisions of CMU Resolution № 713;
• returning the correct percentage of the pension benefit in cases where it was illegally reduced to 70%;
• lifting the restrictions on the maximum pension amount established by Article 43 of Law № 2262-XII.

Issues related to the unlawful reduction of pensions by up to 70%, as well as restrictions on the maximum amount of pensions, are frequent reasons for appeals. Unfortunately, representatives of the Pension Fund are often guided by legal provisions that have lost their validity and have been recognized as inconsistent with the Constitution of Ukraine. Both the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court in exemplary cases emphasize the fundamental principles on which pension provision should be based. This includes a fair pension amount, which should not be artificially limited. It is not surprising that these categories of cases are winning.

Civilian pensions

Not only military personnel but also civilian pensioners need high-quality legal support. In particular, we are talking about the following issues:

• supporting requests when it comes to appealing against a refusal to grant a pension;
• assistance in situations where there are grounds for recalculation of pensions, but the Pension Fund refuses to do so;
• consultations and support of requests for crediting of service, including preferential service.

In the context of civilian pensions, we are often contacted by civil servants when they face a refusal from the Pension Fund to transfer them from an old-age pension to a civil servant’s pension and to include the relevant service in the civil service. Another common category of requests concerns pensions for Chernobyl victims. In particular, it concerns the lifting of restrictions on the maximum pension amount established by Article 67 of Law № 796-XII.

Why is a statement of claim to the Pension Fund an effective way to protect rights?

According to the current legislation, court decisions are binding. This is stated in Article 129-1 of the Constitution of Ukraine, as well as Articles 14 and 370 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine.

At the same time, the support of a professional lawyer at all stages allows you to significantly influence the outcome. For example, if the Pension Fund’s representatives delay the execution of a court decision, we file a corresponding lawyer’s request. This motivates the Pension Fund to treat such issues more responsibly.

So please contact us! The team of Prikhodko & Partners Law Firm has strong lawyers in the field of pension law, who have repeatedly proved their high competence by winning cases.