26.07.2023

ARE WE ENTITLED TO RETIREMENT COMPENSATION IF WE ARE UNEMPLOYED

Questions surrounding the acquisition and exercise of the right to retirement have always caused serious interest among both workers and employers.

On the one hand, all the preliminary preparation with the collection of the necessary documents and the procedures to be carried out are quite complex and specific, which is why one begins to research and prepare things properly years in advance.

On the other hand, which is actually the leading one, it is a question of money that a person should receive after completing his work.

Despite the increased interest in the subject, there are not a few cases in which workers do not know that, according to the law, they are entitled to compensation in monetary value, which is due to them when they terminate their employment contract and have accumulated the necessary age and length of service for retirement.

Of course, there is also the opposite example, where the person knows perfectly well that he should receive this compensation and directs his thoughts only to it, without expecting that in order to receive it, he should have fulfilled the legal conditions in full, because if anything, which does not meet the requirements, no compensation is received. An example of such a situation is when a person becomes eligible for a pension at a time when he is unemployed and seeks his benefit from "the state".

Whether we have the right to compensation upon retirement when we do not have an employment contract and who should pay this compensation?

Let us first of all recall the rule that, according to the law, upon termination of the employment relationship, after the worker or employee has acquired the right to a pension for length of service and age, regardless of the reason for the termination, he is entitled to compensation from the employer in the amount of his gross labor remuneration for a period of 2 months, and if he has acquired 10 years of work experience at the same employer or in the same group of enterprises in the last 20 years - to compensation in the amount of his gross labor remuneration for a period of 6 months. Compensation can only be paid once.

As can be inferred from the above, the law creates an obligation for the employer to pay compensation only upon termination of the employment relationship in cases where during its existence the worker or employee has acquired the right to a pension for length of service and age. This means that if, on the date of acquisition of the right to pension for insurance service and age, the worker or employee is not working, he is not entitled to this benefit.

When the right to a pension for length of service and age was acquired before the termination of the employment contract, when the worker or employee did not work, he is not entitled to the retirement benefit. For the same reason, when the worker or employee has acquired the right to a pension for length of service and age during a period in which he is unemployed, and then begins work, whether with a former employer or with another employer, upon termination of his employment the employer will not be obliged to pay him the compensation in question.

Reference:

Art. 222, para. 3 of the Labor Code