Ukrainian Constitutional Court Hears Judge's Challenge to Pension Cuts Tied to Subsistence Minimum

Constitutional Complaint Filed by Judge D.V. Sydorenko

According to Конституційний суд: The First Senate of Ukraine's Constitutional Court is hearing a constitutional complaint from Judge D.V. Sydorenko. The case questions the legality of reducing judicial pensions based on the official subsistence minimum. The complaint specifically targets paragraph five of Article 7 in Ukraine's 2024 State Budget Law, which set the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons at 2,102 hryvnias, effective January 1, 2024.

This case highlights ongoing tensions in Ukraine between fiscal constraints and the state's obligations to its retired public servants. The court's review of the matter took place on February 25, 2026, during the open part of a plenary session conducted as a written proceeding. The judge-rapporteur for the case is Oksana Hryshchuk. According to the complaint, the Main Department of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region calculated Sydorenko's monthly lifetime judicial retirement pay based on the 2,102 hryvnia subsistence minimum.

Sydorenko initially filed a lawsuit against the Department, contesting the calculation of his judicial remuneration. He won the case at the first-instance court, where the Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court ruled in his favor on January 23, 2025. However, the Third Administrative Court of Appeal overturned that decision and issued a new ruling, which only partially satisfied Sydorenko's claims.

Case Proceedings Continue

D.V. Sydorenko was present at the plenary session. A video recording of the hearing is available in the Archive of Meeting Broadcasts on the Court's official website. In his appeal, Sydorenko challenges the Department's actions as unlawful and demands they be recognized as such. He further requests the Court to oblige the Department to grant him a monthly lifetime allowance equal to 52% of the judicial remuneration, calculated based on a subsistence minimum of 3,028 hryvnias.

The examination of this case underscores the critical issue of pension security for judges in Ukraine, particularly amidst ongoing legislative changes. Setting a subsistence minimum that directly impacts pension amounts can have serious consequences for the financial well-being of retired judges. The Constitutional Court's ruling could set a precedent for future similar cases, emphasizing the need for a careful approach to amendments in social security and the legal norms governing this sphere.