On October 9, 2024, the First Senate of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine at the public part of the plenary session, deliberated the case upon the constitutional complaint of Andrii Hrymashevych regarding the constitutionality of Article 8.2 of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget for 2024” dated November 9, 2023 No. 3460-IX (hereinafter, the “Law”).
According to the judge-rapporteur in the case, Oleksandr Petryshyn, the subject of constitutional review is Article 8.2 of the Law, according to which in 2024, the amount of the minimum wage, which is used as a calculated value for calculation of payments under court decisions, is set at UAH 1,600.
The content of the constitutional complaint and the materials attached to it shows the following. Andrii Hrymashevych was granted a pension increase as an unemployed pensioner residing in the territory of radioactive contamination in the amount specified in Article 39 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Status and Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chornobyl Disaster”, which is equal to two minimum wages for the relevant calendar year.
From January 1, 2024, his salary was recalculated in accordance with Article 8.2 of the Law, namely in the amount of UAH 3,200 (1,600x2).
Disagreeing with this calculation of payments, the applicant appealed to the courts of the judicial system, that dismissed his claim. The Supreme Court returned the applicant’s cassation appeal as being unsubstantiated..
According to the author of the petition, in the absence of a special legislative act that would determine the right to apply the minimum wage as a calculated value for calculation of payments under court decisions, the disputed provision of the Law worsens the legal position of a person by narrowing the content and scope of his/her social rights.
The judge informed that in order to ensure a full and objective deliberation of the case, he had prepared analytical, reference, information and other materials on the constitutional proceedings, and had taken measures aimed at clarifying the scientific approaches arising in this constitutional proceeding.
He also stated that the First and Second Senates have several cases pending on similar issues.
After examining the case files in public part of the plenary session, the First Senate proceeded to the in-camera part of the plenary session for a decision.
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”.