Double Service Credit for Bacteriologists and Laboratory Heads in Ukraine
The Ukrainian pension system provides special conditions for healthcare professionals whose work involves an increased risk to life and health. In particular, Ukrainian legislation establishes preferential rules for calculating periods of service for persons who have worked in infectious disease healthcare institutions or in structural units where work involves dangerous infectious agents. Such legal regulation is due to the specific nature of these working conditions and constant exposure to high-risk biological factors.
According to the Law of Ukraine “On Pension Provision” No. 1788-XII, certain periods of employment are counted toward the employment record at a double rate. The key provision applicable to healthcare professionals is Article 60 of this Law, which provides for double service credit for persons employed in leprosy and anti-plague healthcare institutions, institutions (departments) providing treatment to persons infected with HIV/AIDS, other infectious disease healthcare institutions (departments), as well as pathology and intensive care departments.
By the nature of their professional duties, bacteriologists conduct research on microorganisms that cause particularly dangerous and socially significant infectious diseases, including cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, diphtheria and other infections. Work in a bacteriological laboratory involves direct contact with live pathogenic microorganisms and biological materials and, in terms of its nature and degree of risk, corresponds to working conditions in infectious disease departments of healthcare institutions.
A head of a bacteriological laboratory, while providing organisational and methodological supervision of laboratory testing, is responsible for processes involving the use and examination of infectious agents and, therefore, also works under conditions involving an increased biological risk.
Therefore, where the actual performance of work under the relevant conditions is properly confirmed, employment both as a bacteriologist and as the head of a bacteriological laboratory may qualify as employment in an infectious disease healthcare institution or its structural unit within the meaning of Article 60 of Law No. 1788-XII.
It should additionally be noted that the working conditions of employees who work with infectious agents and allergens are legally recognised as hazardous. This is confirmed by secondary legislation, including Order No. 308/519 of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine dated 5 October 2005, which defines positions and departments of healthcare institutions involving difficult and hazardous working conditions. This Order does not directly establish pension benefits, but it confirms the nature and hazardous character of the relevant working conditions.
On 1 January 2004, the Law of Ukraine “On Compulsory State Pension Insurance” No. 1058-IV entered into force, reforming the Ukrainian pension system. Pursuant to part four of Article 24 of this Law, preferential rules for calculating periods of service apply when determining entitlement to an old-age pension on preferential terms and a long-service pension. At the same time, paragraph 16 of Section XV “Final Provisions” of Law No. 1058-IV provides that the provisions of previous legislation continue to apply insofar as they do not contradict this Law.
A bacteriologist submitted a similar application to the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Ivano-Frankivsk Region, seeking the recalculation and payment of her pension from 09.04.2022 with the period of employment from 01.01.2004 to 03.05.2022 being counted at a double rate. By its judgment of 17 September 2024, the Ivano-Frankivsk District Administrative Court granted the administrative claim in full.
Nevertheless, the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Ivano-Frankivsk Region appealed against the judgment of the Ivano-Frankivsk District Administrative Court dated 17 September 2024. The appellate court dismissed the appeal filed by the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Ivano-Frankivsk Region and upheld the judgment of the court of first instance dated 17.09.2024.
The judgment of the court of first instance confirmed that the period of employment of PERSON_1 from 01.01.2004 to 03.05.2022 as a bacteriologist and head of a bacteriological laboratory in an infectious disease healthcare institution must be counted toward her service record at a double rate (Article 60 of the Law of Ukraine “On Pension Provision”). The Pension Fund’s refusal to count this period at a double rate was declared unlawful. The Pension Fund was ordered, with effect from 09.04.2022, to recalculate and pay the pension taking into account double service credit for the relevant period.
The Pension Fund argued that double service credit could not be applied to periods of employment after 2004. The court rejected this argument, referring to paragraph 16 of Section XV of Law No. 1058-IV and the established case law of the Supreme Court, including the judgments dated 22.12.2021 in case No. 688/2916/17, 20.04.2022 in case No. 214/3705/17, 08.06.2022 in case No. 510/1593/16-a, and 27.04.2023 in case No. 160/14078/22. The arguments concerning the alleged expiry of the time limit for bringing the claim before the court were also rejected.
Therefore, if you have worked or currently work as a bacteriologist or head of a bacteriological laboratory in an institution where research involving live pathogens of dangerous infectious diseases is conducted, you may be entitled to have the relevant period of employment counted as double service credit. The established court practice confirms the possibility and legitimacy of judicial protection where such pension rights have been violated. An unlawful refusal by the Pension Fund of Ukraine may be challenged before an administrative court, with the possibility of subsequently restoring the applicant’s violated pension rights.
Pension Center provides qualified legal assistance in cases involving the granting and recalculation of pensions on preferential terms. Our lawyers can help collect appropriate evidence of employment, properly formulate claims, substantiate your legal position with reference to current case law and the positions of the Supreme Court, and assist in securing the actual implementation of the court judgment by the Pension Fund.
Every year spent working with infectious agents is not merely a year of service – it may represent double service credit that the state is required to take into account when granting or recalculating a pension.
