Early Retirement Pension for Electric Welders in Ukraine

As the number of employees engaged in intellectual and office-based work increases, the number of workers choosing physically demanding occupations tends to decrease. This trend also affects skilled industrial professions such as welding. At the same time, qualified welders remain essential for industry, while Ukrainian legislation provides additional social protection for employees whose work is performed under particularly harmful and difficult working conditions.

This article focuses on electric welders operating automatic and semi-automatic welding machines. In performing their professional duties, such welders may carry out the following types of work:

• mechanised and automatic welding of simple assemblies, parts and structures made of carbon and structural steels;
• operating automatic electroslag welding equipment and special-purpose automatic welding machines when welding structures under the supervision of a higher-qualified electric welder;
• tack welding of parts, products and structures in various spatial positions using semi-automatic welding machines;
• preparing metal for welding;
• surfacing defects in parts and castings;
• cleaning and preparing parts and products for automatic and mechanised welding;
• positioning parts and products in appropriate fixtures;
• loading electrode wire;
• reading basic technical drawings.

Ukrainian legislation classifies certain types of welding work as employment performed under particularly harmful and difficult working conditions. Consequently, employees engaged in such work may qualify for an early retirement pension on preferential terms.

Subject to the applicable statutory requirements and proper confirmation of qualifying employment, electric welders may be entitled to retire from the age of 50. In particular, men generally need at least 25 years of total insurance record, including at least 10 years of qualifying employment as an electric welder. For women, the required period of employment under preferential working conditions is generally at least 7 years and 6 months, subject to the applicable requirements concerning their total insurance record.

However, applicants for a preferential pension for welders in Ukraine may encounter problems when the Pension Fund examines their employment documents. The most common issues include:

• the absence of an employer’s stamp on the first page of the employment record book or in an employment entry;
• the absence of the signature of an authorised person on the first page of the employment record book or in an employment entry;
• errors or corrections in the employment record book that were not properly certified or corrected.

Such formal deficiencies may result in the Pension Fund of Ukraine refusing to include a particular period of employment in the applicant’s preferential service record. However, a refusal by the Pension Fund does not necessarily mean that the employee has lost the right to an early retirement pension.

In such circumstances, one of the most effective ways to protect the applicant’s pension rights may be to challenge the Pension Fund’s decision in an administrative court. If the actual period of employment and the hazardous nature of the work are confirmed by appropriate evidence, the court may recognise the disputed period as part of the applicant’s preferential service record and oblige the Pension Fund of Ukraine to reconsider or grant the pension in accordance with the law.