The length of insurance experience depends not only on the amount of pension payment, but also on the very right of a person to a particular type of pension.
Starting from January 2004, the length of insurance service is calculated according to the Register of Insured Persons.
Until January 1, 2004, before the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine “On Mandatory State Pension Insurance”, the main document used to calculate the length of insurance experience was the employment record book.
Quite often there are cases when entries about a particular period of work are entered in the employment record book incorrectly, without proper registration, or there is no entry at all.
Due to such errors, employees of the Pension Fund will be asked to provide additional documents to confirm a certain period of work. This may be suitable in the following cases:
- If the personal data of its owner (first name, patronymic, last name, or date of birth) is incorrectly written on the title page of the employment record book, or they do not correspond to the passport data. In this case, it is necessary to prove that the employment record book belongs to you by providing documents confirming the change of surname, if any. Otherwise, a certificate from at least one place of work is sufficient for confirmation.
The first page (title page) of the employment record book must be signed by the person responsible for issuing employment record books and certified with the company seal (or the seal of the HR Department) on which it was first filled out.
Changes in records about the surname, first name, patronymic and date of birth, if any, were made by the owner or the body authorized by him/her at the last place of work based on the documents (passport, birth, marriage, divorce certificates, certificate of change of surname, first name and patronymic, etc.) and with reference to the number and date of these documents.
These changes are made on the first page (title page) of the employment record book. For example, the previous surname or first name, patronymic, date of birth is crossed out with one dash, and new data is recorded with a link to the relevant documents on the inside cover and certified by the signature of the director of the enterprise or the seal of the HR Department.
- Entries in the employment record book were not made according to the established procedure. For example, the column “grounds for making an entry” does not indicate the date and number of the order, or the dates of acceptance or dismissal contain corrections that are not properly certified. In such circumstances, you need to provide an additional document (an archive certificate, extracts from orders, etc.) confirming the fact of working at this enterprise.
- Dates are written in Roman numerals. This circumstance may also be a reason for additional verification. Entries must be dated only in Arabic numerals (as indicated in paragraph 2.4 of the instructions for maintaining employment record books). In this case, it is necessary to apply to the company for a copy of the order under which the person was appointed to the position or dismissed. If the order is not preserved, copies of payroll information can serve as confirmation of the fact of work at the enterprise.
- If there is a long time interval between the date of dismissal and the date of the dismissal order. This situation occurs when a person worked in special conditions, for example, in the Far North, and took a vacation with subsequent dismissal. However, this will become clear when the Fund’s specialists receive an extract from the order.
- If there is no seal on the dismissal record or its impression is indistinct. Also, clarifying certificates from the place of work are needed if the seal on the employment record does not match the seal on the dismissal record and there is no entry on the reorganization of the enterprise in the employment record book, which would explain such discrepancies.
- *If the entry in the employment record book is corrected with a marker or pasted over. There should be no such corrections in the employment record, so if they are available, the period of work must be confirmed by additional documents.
- There are often cases when for some reason an entry about work in the period before January 1, 2004 in the employment record book is not entered at all. In this case, you should use the Procedure for Confirming the Existing Work Experience for Assigning Pensions in the Absence of an Employment Record Book or Corresponding Entries Therein, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 637 of August 12, 1993.
According to this Procedure, to confirm the insurance experience, a person can provide:
- a certificate from the company or its legal successor, and in case of their absence – archival institutions. At the same time, such a certificate must necessarily contain a link to the primary documents on the basis of which it was issued;
- extracts from orders;
- personal accounts and payroll statements;
- employment contracts and agreements with a note on their implementation;
- available information in the Register of Insured Persons of the State Register of Mandatory State Social Insurance;
- other documents that contain information about work periods.
In the absence of the above documents, trade union membership cards are accepted as proof of work experience. However, it should be borne in mind that only those periods for which there are marks on the payment of membership fees are subject to crediting to the insurance experience.
If it is not possible to confirm the work experience with archival documents due to their absence because of military operations, natural disasters, accidents, catastrophes or other emergencies, the work experience that entitles you to a pension is established on the basis of the testimony of at least two witnesses who would know the applicant from working together with him/her at the same enterprise, institution, organization (including collective farm) or in the same system.
In the absence of documents about the period of work and the impossibility of obtaining them due to the liquidation of the enterprise or due to the lack of archival data for reasons other than those indicated above, the length of service can be confirmed on the basis of the testimony of at least two witnesses who would know the applicant from working together with him/her at the same enterprise, institution, organization (including collective farm) or in the same system and had documents about their work for the time in respect of which they confirm the applicant’s work.
The survey of witnesses is conducted by the Pension Fund of Ukraine.
If it is impossible to confirm the work experience with archival documents or witness statements, the issue of confirming the fact of work or belonging to the employment record book can also be resolved in court.
To ensure that all periods of employment are timely included in the insurance experience when calculating a pension, we recommend that you review the entries made in the employment record book in advance and, if inaccurate or incorrect entries are found, contact the company or archival institutions for appropriate certificates.