On October 9, 2024, the Second Senate of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine at the public part of the plenary session, deliberated the case upon the constitutional complaint of Vitalii Rodak in the form of written proceedings.
During the plenary session, the judge-rapporteur in this case, Galyna Yurovska, outlined the content of the constitutional complaint and the applicant’s substantiation. The Judge noted that Vitalii Rodak appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to verify the constitutionality of paragraph 3 of Section II “Final and Transitional Provisions” of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine” No. 1774-VIII dated December 6, 2016 (hereinafter, “Law No. 1774”), which stipulates that:
“the minimum wage after the entry into force of this Law shall not be used as a calculated value for determining the salaries and wages of employees and other payments, except for the calculation of the annual amount of funding for the statutory activities of political parties.
Until amendments are introduced to the laws of Ukraine regarding the non-application of the minimum wage as a calculated value, it shall be applied in the amount of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons established as of January 1 of the calendar year, starting from January 1, 2017“.
According to the judge-rapporteur, Vitalii Rodak is a pensioner who does not work, is registered with the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Zhytomyr oblast (hereinafter, the “Department”), and has the status of a person affected by the Chornobyl disaster.
He appealed to the Zhytomyr District Administrative Court with a claim against the Department, in which he requested to declare the inaction unlawful and to oblige the Department to accrue and pay him a pension increase as a pensioner who does not work and resides in the territory of radioactive contamination, in the amount set out in Article 39 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Status and Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chornobyl Disaster” dated February 28, 1991, No. 796-XII as amended (hereinafter, “Law No. 796”), which is equal to two minimum wages established as of January 1 of the calendar year, on a monthly basis.
The Zhytomyr District Administrative Court, in the decision upheld by the resolution of the Seventh Administrative Court of Appeal, partially satisfied the claim, recognising the inaction of the Department in failing to accrue and increase the pension of Vitalii Rodak in the amount set out in Article 39 of Law No. 796 as unlawful; obliged the Department to accrue and pay such an increase to his pension in an amount equal to two subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons, the amount of which was established on January 1 of the calendar year; dismissed the rest of the claims.
The Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeal of Vitalii Rodak and upheld the court decisions of the court of first instance and court of appeal, reasoning that, following the entry into force of Law No. 1774, the minimum wage is not used as a calculated value, in particular, for calculating pension increases for pensioners who do not work and live in the area of radioactive contamination, the right to which such persons have acquired under Article 39 of Law No. 796 (as amended before January 1, 2015).
According to the author of the petition, as a result of the application of paragraph 3 of Section II “Final and Transitional Provisions” of Law No. 1774, there was an actual reduction in the amount of the supplement to his pension compared to the payments previously established by Article 39 of Law No. 796, which indicates a narrowing of the content and scope of his rights, resulting in a violation of his right to property. He also believes that the disputed regulations violate the principle of legal certainty as a component of the rule of law, equality of rights and are discriminatory.
The Judge informed that the Court has several cases pending on similar issues.
After examining the case files in public part of the plenary session, the Court proceeded to the in-camera part of the plenary session to further discuss issues related to the constitutional proceedings in this case.
The video recording of the plenary session is available on the official website of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the Section “Archive of video broadcasts of the sessions”.
