A Kyiv resident secured a job while still receiving unemployment benefits—did the court order her to repay 55,188 hryvnias?

A woman was receiving unemployment benefits. However, it was discovered that she was in employment, which led to a request for her to return 55,188 hryvnias. This information was reported in the decision of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, published on September 11, 2024.

On July 6, 2020, the woman applied to the Kyiv City Employment Center for unemployment status and unemployment benefits. As a result of the review, she was granted unemployment status and awarded unemployment assistance from July 6, 2020, to April 1, 2021, as an insured person, taking into account her insurance experience. On April 2, 2021, she was removed from the unemployment register and the payment of unemployment benefits was terminated based on her application, which she submitted due to her refusal of the services of the employment center. During data exchange with the Pension Fund of Ukraine, it was revealed that from September 28, 2020, to November 30, 2020, she was employed by LLC "Turmsprominvesttorg" while registered as unemployed. Consequently, from September 28, 2020, the citizen was employed and receiving income at her workplace, thus actually belonging to the employed population and did not inform the employment center about this situation during her registration. Given this information, a decision was made to recover the accrued and paid financial assistance, which amounted to 55,188 hryvnias in unemployment benefits.

Case Review

The court found that according to the inspection report on the actual location of the business entity at the specified address dated May 5, 2021, No. 23, compiled by the employees of the Lviv Employment Center, it was established that LLC "Turmsprominvesttorg" was located at the address: Lviv city. On June 25, 2021, a letter from the Main Department of the State Tax Service in the Lviv region of Ukraine dated June 14, 2021, was received at the employment center in response to a request, which indicated that the woman was employed with LLC "Turmsprominvesttorg" from September 2020 to November 2020.

From the content of the decision of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv dated April 4, 2023, in civil case No. 761/11955/22, regarding the claim of the citizen against LLC "Turmsprominvesttorg" to recognize the order as unlawful and to cancel it, it is evident that the claim was satisfied, and the order (directive) of LLC "Turmsprominvesttorg" was deemed illegal from the moment it was issued and subsequently canceled. It was established in this decision that the order (directive) of LLC "Turmsprominvesttorg" No. 7-K dated September 25, 2020, regarding her hiring was issued without legal grounds, resulting in a violation of her rights.

"Since the order for the hiring of the defendant has been judicially recognized as unlawful from the moment of its issuance and canceled, the court concludes that there are no grounds to consider that she was part of the employed population while registered as unemployed," the court stated.

What was the court's decision?

The court denied the Kyiv City Employment Center's claim. The woman was not employed and did not receive income during her registration as unemployed.

"The circumstances cited by the plaintiff as grounds for satisfying the claim, specifically regarding the defendant's employment and her income during her registration as unemployed, as well as the alleged unlawful receipt of unemployment benefits, were not confirmed at the court hearing, leading the court to conclude that the claim is unfounded, and therefore denies its satisfaction," emphasized the court.