On November 28, 2024, the Grand Chamber of the Court at the public part of the plenary session in the form of written proceedings deliberated the case upon the constitutional petition of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the compliance of Article 8.2 of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2024” No. 3460-IX dated November 9, 2023 (hereinafter, the “Law”) with the Constitution of Ukraine.
During the plenary session, the Court heard information from the Judge-Rapporteur in the case Viktor Kryvenko on the content of the constitutional petition and the grounds for initiating constitutional proceedings in the case.
According to the Judge-Rapporteur, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to declare Article 8.2 of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2024” No. 3460-IX dated November 9, 2023 (hereinafter, the “Law”) inconsistent with Articles 8.1, 16, 22.3, 41.4, 50.1, 56, 62.4 and 95.2 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
Article 8.2 of the Law stipulates that “the amount of the minimum wage used as a calculation value for calculating payments under court decisions is 1600 UAH ”.
The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights notes that the provision of Article 8.2 of the Law contradicts Article 95.2 of the Constitution of Ukraine, according to which only the law on the State Budget of Ukraine determines any state expenditures for general public needs, the amount and purpose of these expenditures. In support of this assertion, the petitioner cites the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
In the opinion of the subject of the right to constitutional petition, in accordance with Article 40.1.8 of the Budget Code of Ukraine, the law on the State Budget of Ukraine determines only “the amount of the minimum wage for the relevant budget period”, but not its types, which follows from the fact that the subject matter of the law on the State Budget of Ukraine for the relevant year is narrow and is outlined primarily by Article 40 of the Budget Code of Ukraine, as well as its other provisions.
The author of the petition also points out that the legal category of “minimum wage” and related legal relations are regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On Remuneration of Labor” No. 108/95-VR dated March 24, 1995 (hereinafter, “Law No. 108/95”). According to Article 3.1 of the respective Law, “the minimum wage is the legally established minimum amount of remuneration for the monthly (hourly) labor rate performed by an employee”.
In addition, he indicates that Article 9.2 of Law No. 108/95 provides that “the minimum wage shall be set at a level not lower than the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons.”
The above provisions of Law No. 108/95, which define the minimum wage and its amount, are in line with the provisions of International Labor Organization Convention No. 131 concerning the Minimum Wage Fixing, with Special Reference to Developing Countries.
The author of the petition states that when the Government develops the draft Law on the State Budget of Ukraine for the relevant year and its approval by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the provisions of special legislation, namely Law No. 108/95, must be observed when determining the minimum wage. In addition, he specifies that national legislation does not provide for such a calculation value as the minimum wage for calculating payments under a court decision, does not define the mechanism for calculating the amount of this value, and does not indicate its relation to such international standards as the minimum wage and the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons.
The constitutional petition also states that the accompanying documents of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to the draft Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget for 2024” lack proper substantiation for setting this value at 1600 UAH, and the introduction of two types of minimum wages is inconsistent with current legislation and is not substantiated.
In addition, during the plenary session, the Judge-Rapporteur stated that the Court has a number of cases on similar issues pending.
The Court examined the case file in the public part of the plenary session and proceeded to the in-camera part of the plenary session for a decision.
The plenary session of the Grand Chamber was attended by Andrii Ovsiienko, Representative of the Commissioner for the Judiciary on the Right to Fair Justice and Representation in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Maksym Dyrdin, Permanent Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine at the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and Serhii Dembovskyi, Representative of the President of Ukraine at the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
The video recording of the public part of the plenary session is available at: “Archive of Video Broadcasts of Sessions”.
