Retired judge Natalia Shaptala, who led the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for four months in 2019, has filed a lawsuit against the Pension Fund of Ukraine and secured monthly payments amounting to 390,184 UAH. Reports TSN. This has been reported by Kontrakty.UA.
The publication Oboz.ua has confirmed this information.
The 65-year-old native of Donetsk began her judicial career in 1996 at the Lenin District Court in her hometown and served as the head of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine from May to September 2019. She resigned in October of the same year and started receiving "lifetime monetary support" for judges.
According to the publication, initially, Natalia Shaptala was assigned a payment equal to 90% of a judge's salary, but then, based on a new legal norm, her pension was reduced to 50% of the salary.
To reclaim her previous payments, Shaptala filed a lawsuit with the Kyiv District Administrative Court.
Judge Olesya Chudak ordered the Pension Fund to increase the pension, taking into account the new salary amount.
"Considering that as of 01.01.2020 the minimum subsistence level for working individuals has been increased, consequently, the amount of judges' remuneration has also risen, the court concluded that as of 01.01.2020 there arose a right to recalculation of the monthly lifetime monetary support based on a judge's remuneration of 433,538.60 UAH, and prior to 01.01.2020 – based on a judge's remuneration of 396,206.80 UAH according to the certificate dated 18.09.2019 No. 16/1-345-114," – states the court case materials.
Now, Natalia Shaptala receives 390,184 UAH monthly from the Pension Fund of Ukraine.
It is worth noting that, excluding judges who receive lifetime monetary support, the largest payments from the Pension Fund are received by former regional deputy Serhiy Kivalov, amounting to nearly 246,000 UAH.