Preferential Pension for Casters Under List No. 1 in Ukraine

According to the Ukrainian Explanatory Dictionary, a caster is a worker who manufactures various products by casting; a specialist engaged in casting products made of metal, glass and other materials.

When considering the work performed by a caster, reference should be made to Issue No. 29 of the Handbook of Qualification Characteristics of Workers’ Professions, “Chemical and Photographic Production”. According to this Handbook, a caster:

• performs the technological process of preparing collodion and chemical subbing solutions, casts the base for the entire range of photographic and motion-picture films on continuous single-die casting machines, and performs additional processing of polyester film bases for photographic, motion-picture and technical films;
• measures solvents, prepares the malaxer for operation and loads it;
• monitors the malaxing process using measuring and control instruments and collodion viscosity samples, regulates the supply of collodion for filtration, and distributes the load among pumps, filters, intermediate tanks and operating thermostats;
• performs filtration using filter presses of various types;
• calculates the required quantities of solutions and raw materials, checks their quality, measures, filters and supplies prepared solutions to service tanks;
• regulates the supply of collodion to the casting die, as well as the supply of subbing solution and lacquer to the respective tanks, controls the thickness of the base and the concentration of the gas-air mixture;
• installs empty reels on the winding unit, feeds the base onto the reel and removes the finished cast base;
• visually inspects the quality of the cast base and records defective areas in the accompanying production documentation;
• removes used backing layers (mirror coating) from the copper strip of the machine’s casting unit and visually monitors the quality of additional coatings;
• cleans, washes and lubricates the equipment and checks its operation;
• performs minor repairs of equipment and associated systems.

Another important consideration is that casters are included in preferential List No. 1, which allows employees in this occupation to retire earlier than the standard retirement age.

The conditions for a caster to qualify for an old-age pension on preferential terms are as follows:

1. the person must have reached the age of 50;
2. men must have at least 25 years of insurance record, including at least 10 years of employment in the qualifying occupation, while women must have at least 20 years of insurance record, including at least 7 years and 6 months of employment in the qualifying occupation.

Another important aspect of obtaining a preferential pension is the confirmation of the employee’s preferential service record, which may include documents concerning workplace certification. However, in practice, not all employers properly conduct workplace certification or comply with the applicable certification requirements. As a result, employees seeking an old-age pension on preferential terms may have to defend their pension rights through court proceedings.

An important precedent in this category of pension disputes is the judgment of the Supreme Court dated 19 February 2020 in case No. 520/15025/16-а.

The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court concluded that an employer’s failure to conduct workplace certification, or the late performance of such certification, cannot constitute grounds for refusing to grant an employee an old-age pension on preferential terms.