On 13 November 2024, the Second Senate at the public part of the plenary session, in the form of written proceedings, deliberated the case upon the constitutional complaint of Vira Shvab.
As noted by the Judge-Rapporteur in the case Oleg Pervomayskyi, the applicant appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to verify the compliance 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”) with the Constitution of Ukraine.
The contested provisions of Law No. 1774 establish that the minimum wage after the entry into force of this Law shall not be applied as a calculation value for accruing official salaries and wages of employees and other payments, except for the calculation of the annual volume of financing of the statutory activities of political parties; prior to the introduction of amendments to the laws of Ukraine regarding the non-application of the minimum wage as a calculation value, it is applied in the amount of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons, established on January 1 of the calendar year, from January 1, 2017.
From the content of the constitutional complaint and the materials attached to it, it can be seen that Vira Shvab is a pensioner who does not work, is registered with the Main Office of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Zhytomyr region (hereinafter, the “Office”), has the status of a person who suffered as a result of the Chornobyl disaster.
The applicant notes that 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 the pension as a pensioner who does not work and lives in the territory of radioactive contamination, compared to the previously established payments provided for in Article 39 of the Law of Ukraine “On the status and social protection of citizens who suffered as a result of the Chornobyl disaster” No. 796-XII dated February 28, 1991 (hereinafter, “Law No. 796”).
Disagreeing with this, she appealed to the courts with an administrative lawsuit against the Office, in which she requested to declare the Office's inaction in not accruing and not paying her a pension increase as a pensioner who does not work and lives in the territory of radioactive contamination, in the amount specified by Article 39 of the Law, illegal No. 796 and oblige the Office to calculate and pay her a monthly pension increase in the amount “equal to two minimum wages established by the Law on the State Budget of Ukraine for the relevant year”.
The court of first instance satisfied the claims in part. The appellate court rejected Vira Shvab's complaint, and the decision of the court of first instance remained unchanged. The Supreme Court refused her to initiate cassation proceedings.
According to the applicant, the contested provisions of Law No. 1774 lead to a narrowing of the content and scope of her rights, as a result of which her property rights are violated, and also violate the principle of legal certainty as a component of the rule of law, legal equality, and are therefore discriminatory.
The judge also reported that a number of cases relating to the same subject of constitutional review are pending before the First and Second Senates.
The Permanent Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine at the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Maksym Dyrdin attended the public part of the plenary session.
The Second Senate examined the case files and proceeded to the in-camera part of the plenary session.
The video recording of the plenary session is available on the official website of the Court in the section “Archive of Video Broadcasts of Sessions”.
