On September 10, 2025, during the public part of the plenary session in the form of written proceedings, the Second Senate deliberated the case upon the constitutional complaint of Vasyl Kovtunovych.
During the plenary session, the Judge-Rapporteur in the case, Viktor Gorodovenko, outlined the content of the constitutional complaint and the complainant's arguments. In particular, the judge noted that Vasyl Kovtunovych had appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to review 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, “Law No. 3460”) with the provisions of Articles 22.3, 24.1, 24.2 , 46.1, 50.1, 55.1 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
Article 8.2 of the Law sets the minimum wage, which is used as the basis for calculating payments under court decisions, at 1,600 UAH.
The constitutional complaint and the materials attached to it reveal the following circumstances of the case.
The Division of Compulsory Enforcement of Decisions of the Department for Ensuring Compulsory Enforcement of Decisions in Zhytomyr Region of the Central Interregional Department of the Ministry of Justice (hereinafter, the “Enforcement Division”) is executing a writ of execution issued on June 21, 2022, by the Zhytomyr District Administrative Court, which obliges the Chief Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Zhytomyr Region (hereinafter, the “Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine”) to calculate and pay Vasyl Kovtunovych a pension increase as an unemployed pensioner living in an area 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” No. 796-HP dated February 28, 1991, (hereinafter, “Law No. 796”), equal to two minimum wages (in accordance with the law on the State Budget of Ukraine for the relevant year).
In August 2022, enforcement proceedings were initiated to enforce this decision. As a result of the measures taken, in September 2022, the calculation and payment of additional pensions began in amounts equal to two minimum wages, the size of which is established by the law on the State Budget of Ukraine for the corresponding year.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted Law No. 3460, Article 8.2 of which sets the minimum wage, used as a base for calculating payments under court decisions, at UAH 1,600.
In this regard, on January 4, 2024, the state executor of the Enforcement Division sent a request to the debtor, obliging the Pension Fund of Ukraine to execute the court decision in full (in accordance with the law on the State Budget of Ukraine for the relevant year).
Since the request did not specify the minimum wage amounts to be applied in the enforcement of the court decision, the Pension Fund Administration of Ukraine recalculated the pension in the amount of two minimum wages established by Article 8.2 of Law No. 3460 (calculated amount – UAH 1,600).
Vasyl Kovtunovych filed a lawsuit requesting that the actions of the Pension Fund Administration of Ukraine in determining the amount of the additional pension provided for in Article 39 of Law No. 796 based on two minimum wages applied as the estimated amount for calculating payments under court decisions at the level of UAH 1,600, unlawful, and the decision to recalculate his pension illegal and to cancel it.
The Zhytomyr District Administrative Court, by its ruling of February 26, 2024, left unchanged by the decision of the Seventh Administrative Court of Appeal of June 17, 2024, denied the application of Vasyl Kovtunovych.
Vasyl Kovtunovych appealed these court decisions in cassation, but the Supreme Court refused to initiate cassation proceedings.
The author of the petition emphasises that Law No. 3460 “changed the scope of existing rights” established by Law No. 796, since, starting from January 1, 2024, Law No. 3460 introduced two different minimum wages: the minimum wage as the amount of remuneration (Article 8.1), and the minimum wage as the amount for calculating payments by court decision (Article 8.2), which is less than the minimum wage specified in Article 8.1 of Law No. 3460.
Vasyl Kovtunovych also points out the absence of a special legislative act that would define the right to apply the minimum wage as a calculation value for calculating payments by court decision, applied in the final court decision in his case, in legal relations regarding the calculation and payment of an additional pension to him as an unemployed pensioner living in an area of radioactive contamination, provided for by the Law of Ukraine “On the Status and Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chornobyl Disaster” in the amount of two minimum wages established by Article 8.2 of the Law.
The Court examined the case materials in the public part of the plenary session and then proceeded to the in-camera part of the plenary session for a decision.
The public part of the plenary session is available on the Court's official website in the Section “Archive of video broadcasts of sessions”.
