How We Secured an Early Old-Age Pension for a Combatant Through Court

Problems with employment record books or the absence of supporting documents for certain periods of employment often create difficulties when applying for a pension in Ukraine. This issue is particularly important in cases involving early retirement, where entitlement depends on having the required insurance record and a specific legal status. In many cases, applicants discover that certain employment periods have not been counted, that their employment record book contains corrections, or that information is missing from the Register of Insured Persons only after applying to the Pension Fund of Ukraine.

Mr. Chikirinda faced precisely this situation. The Pension Fund refused to grant him an early old-age pension because of deficiencies in the entries in his employment record book and an alleged lack of proper confirmation of his status as a combatant. When refusing the pension application, the pension authority excluded almost four years of employment from his insurance record and did not accept his combatant certificate as sufficient evidence.

After analyzing the Pension Fund’s refusal and the client’s documents, we decided to challenge the decision in court. Our legal position was based on the following arguments.

First, an employee is not responsible for maintaining personnel or accounting records at an enterprise and therefore cannot be held responsible for errors or irregularities committed by the employer when completing an employment record book or other internal documents. Consequently, deficiencies in documents caused by the employer cannot constitute grounds for depriving an employee of the right to social protection, including the right to a pension. Formal irregularities in employment documents should not automatically result in the exclusion of periods of actual employment from the applicant’s insurance record.

Second, under Ukrainian legislation, the obligation to calculate and pay insurance contributions rests with the employer as the policyholder. An employee is not required to supervise this process and cannot be held responsible for the employer’s violations or negligence. Therefore, unpaid insurance contributions attributable to the employer should not deprive an employee of the right to have the relevant period of actual employment taken into account when determining insurance record.

Third, pursuant to subparagraph 6 of paragraph 2.1 of Section II of the Procedure approved by Resolution of the Pension Fund of Ukraine No. 22-1, persons who participated in hostilities and apply for an early old-age pension may submit the documents prescribed by the Procedure to confirm their status and entitlement. These include documents concerning military service or participation in the defense of Ukraine, as well as a combatant certificate. Accordingly, the applicable rules provide alternative means of confirming the relevant status, and a duly issued combatant certificate is a legally significant document for establishing combatant status and exercising the right to an early pension.

The court of first instance partially granted the claim. In particular, it ordered the Pension Fund to include the disputed periods of employment in Mr. Chikirinda’s insurance record but did not require the pension authority to grant him an early pension because the issue of his combatant status had not been fully assessed. We disagreed with this part of the judgment and filed an appeal.

Our position on appeal was additionally based on the fact that subparagraph 6 of paragraph 2.1 of Procedure No. 22-1 provides for alternative documents that may serve as independent grounds for confirming a person’s special status as a combatant for the purpose of granting a pension with a reduced retirement age. In particular, a combatant certificate itself constitutes evidence of the relevant status. This legal position is consistent with the conclusions of the Supreme Court set out in its judgments dated 9 June 2021 in case No. 340/576/19 and 17 January 2023 in case No. 580/8208/21.

Following the appellate proceedings, the court granted our appeal and ordered the pension authority to award Mr. Chikirinda an early old-age pension pursuant to paragraph 4 of part 1 of Article 115 of the Law of Ukraine “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance.” The court judgment was subsequently enforced: Mr. Chikirinda was granted an early old-age pension and received all pension arrears due for the relevant period while the court proceedings were pending.

The court judgments are available at the following links: https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/125041672 and https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/127373496.