Pension for length of service: from what date after discharge from service it should be assigned to a serviceman

The Lviv District Administrative Court considered a dispute filed by a serviceman against the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Lviv region regarding the date of assignment of a pension for length of service after discharge from military service. The court examined from which moment such a pension should be assigned if before discharge the person received a disability pension under the Law "On Compulsory State Pension Insurance," and after discharge for the first time acquired the right to a pension under Law No. 2262-XII.

Essence of the case

The plaintiff was removed from the personnel lists of the military unit and all types of support by the commander’s order dated February 11, 2025. After discharge, the authorized body sent documents necessary for assigning the pension for length of service according to the Law of Ukraine "On Pension Provision for Persons Discharged from Military Service and Some Other Persons" to the Pension Fund. Based on these documents, the Pension Fund assigned the pension for length of service from May 2, 2025, in the amount of 70% of the monetary allowance sums. The plaintiff believed that the right to the pension arose not from the date the documents were received by the Pension Fund, but from the moment of discharge from military service. Therefore, he requested to recognize the inaction of the Pension Fund regarding the non-assignment of the pension from the proper date as unlawful and to oblige the assignment and payment of the pension from the day of discharge.

The defendant opposed the claim, arguing that the pension was assigned from the date of receipt of the complete package of documents from the authorized body. Additionally, the Pension Fund noted that until that time the plaintiff received a disability pension according to Law No. 1058-IV, and therefore the pension for length of service was assigned after receiving the necessary documents in the prescribed manner.

Position and conclusions of the court

The court noted that Law No. 2262-XII is a special normative act that defines the conditions and procedure for pension provision for persons discharged from military service. At the same time, a person entitled to various types of pensions is assigned one pension of their choice. The pension under Law No. 2262-XII is assigned based on an application opositionf the established form and necessary documents submitted through the authorized body. The court drew attention to the fact that the disputed legal relations concern precisely the first assignment of a pension under Law No. 2262-XII, not the transfer from one type of pension to another, since before this the plaintiff received a disability pension under Law No. 1058-IV and had not previously received a pension under Law No. 2262-XII. The decision emphasized that after discharge from military service, the plaintiff acquired the right to a pension according to Law No. 2262-XII.

According to paragraph "b" of part one of article 50 of this Law, the pension for persons entitled to a pension for length of service is assigned from the day following discharge from service, but not earlier than the day until which monetary allowance was paid. If a person applied late for pension assignment, it is assigned from the day the right arose, but not more than twelve months before the application. Evaluating the established circumstances, the court concluded that the Pension Fund unjustifiably set May 2, 2025, as the date of pension assignment. The proper date of pension assignment is February 12, 2025, i.e., the day following the plaintiff’s discharge from military service. Therefore, the Pension Fund’s inaction regarding the non-assignment of the pension from this date is unlawful. At the same time, the court denied the claim to oblige payment of the pension in a specific amount — 70% of the monetary allowance sums and in a defined monetary sum.

The court noted that at the time of the case consideration, the recalculation of the pension from the proper date had not yet been carried out, so determining its percentage and monetary amount is premature. The court also emphasized that only violated rights, not rights to the future, are subject to judicial protection. As a result of the case No. 380/14544/25, the Lviv District Administrative Court partially satisfied the claim, recognized the inaction of the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Lviv region as unlawful, and obliged to assign and pay the plaintiff a pension for length of service according to Law No. 2262-XII from February 12, 2025, i.e., from the day following his discharge from military service. In other parts of the claim, the court refused.

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