The Constitutional Court of Ukraine adopted the Decision in the Case upon the Constitutional Comlaints of O.Davymoka, M.Boyko, V.Kriuk and V.Tokarenko
On October 22, 2020 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine adopted the Decision in the case upon the constitutional complaints of Oleksandr Davymoka, Mykola Boyko, Volodymyr Kriuk and Vitalii Tokarenko concerning the conformity of the provisions of Article 97.1.4. of the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police” of 2 July 2015 No. 580–VIII as amended (hereinafter – the Law No. 580) to the Constitution of Ukraine (constitutionality).
By this Decision the Court declared the provisions of Article 97.1.4. of the Law No. 580 as such that conform to the Constitution of Ukraine (are constitutional).
The subjects of the right to constitutional complaint argued that the courts in applying the said provisions of the Law No. 580 in their cases had violated the constitutional guarantees of social protection, since payment of one-time monetary assistance in case of establishing disability of a policeman as a result of illness, injure related to the service in the interiour bodies or police, may not be connected with such condition as the grounds for dismissal.
The petitioners note that given that “the said assistance is paid only to a policeman who was dismissed on the grounds of illness” and provided “the establishment of disability of a policeman within six months after his/her dismissal from police”, such norms of the Law No. 580 are discriminatory.
The Court notes, that it follows from the provisions of the disputed norms of the Law No. 580, that the state guarantees one-time monetary assistance, which is a social payment to a policeman who was declared a person with disability (under certain circumstance),. The legislator explains the obtaining of one-time monetary assistance by impossibility of a policeman to further exercise his/her duties due to health state as the person who serves in the National Police of Ukraine.
The Court indicates, that unlike the disability pensions, one-time monetary assistance, stipulated by Article 97.1 of the Law No. 580, is a social payment and belongs to one of the types of social assistance. The assistance envisaged by this article, is a legal means of social protection of policemen, which is granted by the state in view of loss of ability by them. Yet the right to one-time monetary assistance in case of loss of work ability is not a constitutionally determined right of a policeman, and the norms of Article 46.1 of the Constitution of Ukraine do not guarantee payment of one-time monetary assistance, therefore the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine may determine the procedure and conditions of its granting, by providing the procedure of implementation of such right in the law.
Thus, the Decision reads that one-time monetary assistance, provided for by Article 97.1 of the Law No. 580, is different from pensions, other types of social payments and assistance, which is guaranteed by the general mandatory state social insurance, since it is not the main source of existence for persons who are granted it.
Given that dismissal of a policeman from service in the police occurs as a result of circumstances, which arose at the moment of service in the police and make its further exercise impossible, regardless of his/her will, the state, pursuant to Articles 97.1.3 and 97.1.4 of the Law No. 580 provides for one-time social payment provided that the illness of the policeman has led to disability.
In its Decision, the Court indicated, that clauses 116 of Article 97.1 of the Law No. 580 established the exhaustive procedure which is not subjected to the extended interpretation, the list of grounds for granting and payment of one-time monetary assistance, which include the death of a policeman; granting the disability status to a policeman, partial loss by a policeman of work ability without establishing disability status.
The given provisions of the Law No. 580 testify that Article 97.1 applies the differentiated approach to granting and payment of one-time monetary assistance, which takes into account not only the gravity of consequences of social risk, which occurred for a policeman and member of his/her family, but also the fact, to what extent the occurred social risk is connected with the execution by a policeman of the extremely important tasks entrusted to the National Police of Ukraine. In this regard, the procedure for calculating respective social assistance, their amount which is due to granting and payment is also different.
“The procedure established by the Law No. 580 for obtaining one-time monetary assistance does not admit unjustified exceptions from the constitutional principles of equality, does not contain features of discrimination when implementing by policemen of the right to social protection, is proportionate, has legitimate, objectively substantiated aim”, the Court stressed.
The Court also considers that the mentioned procedure established by the state ensures the implementation of the right of an individual to obtain assistance and stresses that observance of the requirements determined by the Law No. 580 is the duty of the subjects who qualify for its obtaining.
The Decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine is obligatory, final, and may not be appealed.
