Can Technical School Studies Count Toward a Preferential Pension in Ukraine?
As is well known, employees in certain occupations involving difficult or harmful working conditions, such as miners or metallurgical workers, may be entitled to retire before reaching the standard retirement age.
Preferential employment record plays a key role in determining a person’s entitlement to an early or preferential pension. Such record may include periods of employment, military service and other periods that, under certain conditions, are taken into account on preferential terms. However, the question of whether periods of study at technical schools, colleges and other vocational educational institutions can be included in preferential employment record has often been a matter of dispute.
Disputes have arisen due to different approaches to this issue and the interpretation of the applicable legislation. Some pensioners have had to prove that periods of study at a technical school or other vocational educational institution should be included when calculating their preferential employment record.
Leonid Hryhorovych Rybtsov faced a similar situation. He had worked as a miner throughout his professional career. When the Pension Fund considered his application for a miner’s pension regardless of age, his period of study at a technical school was not included in his preferential employment record. As a result, he was refused a pension.
The court, however, ruled in favour of Leonid Hryhorovych. With qualified legal assistance, it was possible to obtain a judgment ordering the Pension Fund of Ukraine to include his period of study at the technical school in his preferential employment record.
As a result of this judgment, Leonid Hryhorovych was able to obtain a miner’s pension regardless of age in the maximum amount provided for by Ukrainian legislation. In addition, Mr Rybtsov’s pension was granted from the date on which he originally submitted his pension application. Consequently, he was also entitled to pension payments for the entire period during which the case was being considered by the court.
The court judgment was based on the applicable pension legislation and the circumstances of the individual case. The inclusion of a period of study at a technical school in preferential employment record may be justified where the statutory requirements for recognising such a period are satisfied. Vocational education is directly connected with acquiring the professional knowledge and practical skills required to perform work that may subsequently entitle a person to a preferential pension.
