In Ukraine, judges are increasingly winning lawsuits against the Pension Fund, seeking significant sums for retroactive recalculation of their pensions. As informs OBOZ.UA, at least five judges have already obtained a decision in their favor, receiving payments of millions of hryvnias.
The largest payment, more than 17 million hryvnias, was won by a judge from Kyiv Oleg Oksenenko, a judge of the Sixth Appeal Administrative Court. According to his declaration, last year he received a monthly salary of 254.8 thousand hryvnias. However, his pension, known as lifetime maintenance, increased to 268.3 thousand hryvnias every month thanks to the court’s decision. This is not the largest pension in Ukraine, but he became the record holder for the volume of one-time payment, which the Pension Fund is obliged to provide him.
Judge of the Kyiv District Administrative Court Andriy Balaklytskyi (who died in October 2024) ruled that the Pension Fund should pay Oksenenko 17 million 27 thousand hryvnias. This amount was accumulated due to the fact that the Pension Fund limited the size of the pension during the recalculation, complying with the law. However, the court ordered a recalculation without such restrictions and retroactively, which resulted in the formation of a significant amount that the Pension Fund must pay.
Also among the judges who received significant pension payments are former judges of the Supreme Court in retirement. For example, Stanislav Pekny, who retired back in 2010, received 10,654,000 hryvnias after the decision of the judge of the Cassation Administrative Court within the Supreme Court, Andriy Rybachuk, entered into force on September 12, 2023. According to this decision, the Pension Fund is obliged to recalculate Pekny’s pension also retroactively, which resulted in a large payment.
Among other judges who succeeded in recalculating pensions with large payments are Mykola Tsitovych, who sentenced the Pension Fund for 9.6 million hryvnias (the decision came into effect at the end of 2022), and Mykola Selivanov, who on February 27, 2023 won a case for the amount of 9, 1 million hryvnias. Tamara Gogol, a former judge of the Higher Economic Court, who won a case worth 9 million hryvnias (the decision came into force on March 7, 2024), completes the top five richest pensioners among judges.
According to the current legislation, retired judges receive lifelong financial support from the Pension Fund. In fact, this is a kind of pension, the amount of which can reach 90% of the salary that the judge received in office. The salary calculation includes not only the basic salary, but also numerous bonuses and allowances. For example, in the decision in favor of Oleh Oksenenko, the “surcharge for special features of service” in the amount of 129.5 thousand hryvnias was taken into account, which increases the amount of his pension.
As OBOZ.UA reports, the situation with large pensions for judges attracts attention, as significant amounts from the Pension Fund are spent on pensions of elite pensioners. This is cause for concern, because such payments significantly exceed the average level of pensions in Ukraine, creating a heavy burden on the state budget and reducing opportunities for payments to ordinary pensioners.
