Preferential Pension Under List No. 1 and List No. 2 in Ukraine
One of the main conditions for retirement in Ukraine is reaching the statutory retirement age and having the required amount of insurance record. However, Ukrainian legislation also provides for preferential pensions, which allow certain categories of employees working in harmful, hazardous or particularly difficult conditions to retire earlier.
A preferential pension in Ukraine is available to persons whose employment involved harmful or hazardous working conditions. Depending on the nature and severity of such conditions, relevant occupations, positions and types of work are included in List No. 1 or List No. 2.
Under Ukrainian pension legislation, preferential insurance record under List No. 1 requires men to have the statutory amount of total insurance record, including at least 10 years of employment under List No. 1. For women, the required period of preferential employment is at least 7 years and 6 months.
A pension under List No. 2 is granted subject to the statutory requirements regarding the person’s total insurance record and the duration of employment under harmful or difficult working conditions. In particular, the required preferential employment period is at least 12 years and 6 months for men and 10 years for women.
At the same time, an important role in determining the conditions for preferential retirement is played by the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine concerning preferential pensions. The Constitutional Court addressed the issue of pension rights of persons who had worked in harmful and difficult working conditions before changes were introduced to pension legislation.
In certain cases, the application of the Constitutional Court’s legal position may result in more favourable retirement conditions for employees covered by List No. 1 and List No. 2 compared with the conditions applied by the Pension Fund of Ukraine.
For example, depending on the period during which a person acquired preferential employment record and the legislation applicable to that period, the requirements concerning total insurance record and retirement age may differ from those currently applied by the Pension Fund.
Therefore, when determining the right to early retirement under List No. 1 or List No. 2, it is important to analyse not only the employee’s total and preferential insurance record but also the periods in which such record was acquired and the legislation applicable at that time.
In practice, the Pension Fund of Ukraine may refuse to grant a preferential pension if it considers that the applicant does not have the required amount of insurance record or if certain periods of employment have not been recognised as preferential. Such a refusal does not mean that the person has definitively lost the right to a pension.
A preferential pension may be obtained through court proceedings by challenging the Pension Fund’s decision refusing to grant the pension. During such proceedings, the court examines the applicant’s employment record, documents confirming harmful or hazardous working conditions, the applicable provisions of pension legislation and relevant decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
It is important not to delay challenging a refusal by the Pension Fund. Ukrainian administrative procedural legislation establishes time limits for filing a claim with an administrative court. Therefore, after receiving a decision refusing to grant a List No. 1 or List No. 2 pension, it is advisable to analyse the decision and the pension documents as soon as possible and determine whether there are grounds for challenging the refusal in court.
