The recipients of disability pensions who continued their professional activity after they started to receive these pensions will be able to ask for the reexamination of pensions. The Constitutional Court pronounced on provisions of the law on the public pension system following applications from a number of persons with disabilities, who said that even if they continued work after the disability pension was set, they were refused the reexamination of pensions when they asked for this, IPN reports.

The challenged article provides that the persons who continue work after obtaining an old-age pension are entitled to the reexamination of the pension.

Vitalie Meșter, the author of one of the challenges, said that Article 33, par. (1) letter c) of the law on the public pensions system unjustifiably institutes differentiated treatment in relation to the persons with disabilities and does not ensure equal conditions in the reexamination of pensions. Vitalie Meșter said that he, being a person with disabilities who continues work and contributes to the formation of the state budget, is limited in the right to improve his living conditions against the other recipients of pensions, such as the old-age pension.

In a press briefing, CC president Domnica Manole said the Court held that the deprivation of the persons with disabilities of the right to have their pension reassessed can discourage these persons from doing a pained job and can make them look for illegal work so as to avoid paying social insurance contributions. By its decision, the Court established a provisional solution to remedy the problem until Parliament deals with it.

The Constitutional Court’s decision will start to have an effect on February 1, 2022. If Parliament does not review the law on the public pensions system until February 1, 2022, the responsible state social insurance authority will ensure the reexamination of the disability pension based on the Court’s decision.