Miner’s Pension in Ukraine: How Preferential Mining Service Is Calculated
A miner’s pension in Ukraine is a special form of social security that allows employees in the mining industry to retire early. Under the Law of Ukraine “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance”, special pension eligibility requirements apply to persons engaged in underground or open-pit mining operations. In practice, however, obtaining such a pension can be complicated by the need to confirm preferential service and provide documentary evidence of employment under special working conditions.
One of the most common problems faced by miners is the preferential calculation of each year worked in leading mining professions as 1 year and 3 months of service. Pension authorities often fail to apply this increased service calculation. As a result, a prospective pensioner may appear to lack the required length of service for early retirement.
This was precisely the problem faced by our client, Mr Vasyliev. The Pension Fund refused to grant him a miner’s pension because it did not apply the preferential multiplier to his 15 years of employment as a mine tunneller. Consequently, an additional 3 years and 9 months were not included in his preferential service record, which became decisive in determining his entitlement to a pension.
The Pension Fund argued that Mr Vasyliev’s service in leading underground mining professions had to be calculated on a standard one-to-one basis, without preferential calculation under Clarification No. 8 of the Ministry of Social Security of Ukraine dated 20 January 1992. According to the Pension Fund, he had completed less than 10 years of the qualifying service required for a pension regardless of age under Article 14 of the Law of Ukraine “On Pension Provision”.
After analysing 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.
Firstly, the Pension Fund unlawfully failed to include Mr Vasyliev’s employment from 2009 to 2024 as a mine tunneller in his preferential service record under the list of qualifying works approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 202 dated 31 March 1994, which provides entitlement to a preferential pension. List No. 202 covers underground mining operations where employees are engaged in such work on a full-time basis.
Accordingly, these qualifying works may include various positions, including employees engaged in leading mining professions such as mine tunnellers. The essential requirement is full-time employment in underground operations at coal mines.
Secondly, the Ministry of Social Security of Ukraine issued Clarification No. 8 dated 20 January 1992. According to this clarification, employees engaged in underground work and metallurgy who have at least 10 years of qualifying service giving entitlement to a pension regardless of age, but who have not completed the full required period of service, may be granted a pension regardless of age if they have at least 25 years of underground and metallurgical service. For the purpose of calculating this service, each full year worked as a mine tunneller is counted as 1 year and 3 months.
On 22 February 1992, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 81 “On Measures for the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Pension Provision’”. The annex to this Resolution contains a list of draft regulatory acts required for implementation of the Law of Ukraine “On Pension Provision” and includes documents to be approved by ministries. Among them is Clarification No. 8 dated 20 January 1992 “On the Procedure for Calculating Employment Service Giving Entitlement to Pensions Regardless of Age to Employees Directly Engaged Full-Time in Work Provided for by Article 14 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Pension Provision’”.
Therefore, Clarification No. 8 has the characteristics of a regulatory legal act, which is also confirmed by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 81 dated 22 February 1992.
The application of the above clarification requires at least 10 years of qualifying employment giving entitlement to a pension regardless of age. Mr Vasyliev had 23 years, 6 months and 3 days of qualifying service giving him the right to a pension regardless of age. Therefore, the provisions of Clarification No. 8 were applicable to his case.
The court of first instance partially granted the claim. In particular, it annulled the Pension Fund’s decision refusing to grant the pension and ordered the pension authority to apply the preferential service multiplier to periods of employment in leading mining professions and reconsider Mr Vasyliev’s pension application.
The Pension Fund disagreed with the judgment and filed an appeal. However, the appellate court once again supported our legal arguments, dismissed the Pension Fund’s appeal and upheld the judgment of the court of first instance.
The Pension Fund subsequently complied with the court judgment relatively quickly: it granted Mr Vasyliev a miner’s pension and paid the pension arrears accumulated during the court proceedings in full.
The court judgments are available at the following links:
Court of First Instance – https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/127368739.
Court of Appeal – https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/130700636.
