A man was denied a pension payment of 71,702 hryvnias upon reaching retirement age. Here's what the court decided.

A man was retired due to age and was granted an additional payment of 71,702 hryvnias. However, the Pension Fund did not pay the specified amount. This is stated in the decision of the October District Court of Dnipropetrovsk, published on October 25, 2024.

The man is registered with the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Dnipropetrovsk region and receives an age pension in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Civil Service" No. 889-VIII dated December 10, 2015. His transfer to an age pension as a civil servant of the PFU was carried out based on the decision of the Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court dated December 20, 2021, in case No. 160/22854/21, which partially satisfied the citizen's claims. The mentioned decision came into force on April 14, 2022. In accordance with the above decision, the PFU calculated the additional payment for the period from August 4, 2021, to April 30, 2022, in the amount of 71,702 hryvnias. As of April 3, 2024, the specified amount of the calculated additional payment has not been disbursed. He also notes that the actions of the PFU caused him moral damage, which he estimates at 35,000 hryvnias, corresponding to half of the amount of unpaid pension accruals.

Based on the above, the man requests the court to recover from the PFU by means of an indisputable withdrawal of funds by the State Treasury Service of Ukraine from the relevant treasury account in his favor in the amount of 48,151 hryvnias, including 35,000 hryvnias for compensation for moral damage caused by the inaction of the government authority, an inflation amount of 9,558 hryvnias, and 3% per annum for the delay in the monetary obligation amounting to 3,593 hryvnias. As noted in the letter from the Main Department of the PFU in Dnipropetrovsk region dated March 18, 2024, in execution of the decision of the Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court dated December 20, 2021, in case No. 160/22854/821, the Main Department of the PFU in Dnipropetrovsk region transferred the citizen to an age pension in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Civil Service" from August 4, 2021, and calculated the additional payment for the period from August 4, 2021, to April 30, 2022, in the amount of 71,702 hryvnias. It was clarified that the pension funds due, accrued by the court decision, will be paid upon receipt of the relevant funding for the payment of amounts accrued by court decisions, in order of priority based on the date they came into force.

What did the court decide?

The court denied the claim. The man did not prove the fact of the PFU's failure to comply with the court's decision regarding the recognition of the actions as unlawful and the cancellation of the decision, the recognition of the inaction as unlawful, the inclusion of the service period in the state service record, and the repeated consideration of the application for a transition to another type of pension.

"As follows from the response dated March 18, 2024, from the Main Department of the PFU in Dnipropetrovsk region, in execution of the decision of the Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court dated December 20, 2021, in case No. 160/22854/21, the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk region transferred the plaintiff to a pension in accordance with the Law of Ukraine 'On Civil Service' from August 4, 2021, and calculated the additional payment for the period from August 4, 2021, to April 30, 2022, in the amount of 71,702 hryvnias. From May 1, 2022, the pension is paid in accordance with the court's decision. From this response, it follows that the inclusion of the state service period has been carried out (as the plaintiff also does not note that the defendant did not take into account certain periods of his work, military service), and that the Main Department of the PFU in Dnipropetrovsk region has re-examined the application dated August 4, 2021, for recalculation of the pension, regarding the transition to a pension under another law (civil service), and based on the results of the review, taking into account the legal assessment provided by the court, made a decision to transfer the plaintiff to another type of pension - age pension in accordance with the Law of Ukraine 'On Civil Service'. The court's decision did not obligate the Pension Fund management to calculate and pay the plaintiff specific amounts of funds (for example, to calculate and pay considering already paid amounts); this decision did not impose any charges. The decision required the management to re-examine his application dated August 4, 2021, for recalculation of the pension, regarding the transition to a pension under another law (civil service) and to make a decision in the established manner, taking into account the legal assessment provided by the court in this decision, which the Main Department of the PFU in Dnipropetrovsk region did," the court emphasized.