A group of representatives in the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament initiated an administrative dispute before the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH. They request an evaluation of the constitutionality of Article 81 of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, as well as Article 13, which refers to the retroactive application of changes to the Law on PIO.
Also, the applicants request the adoption of a temporary measure that would suspend the application of Articles 81 and 13 of the Law on PIO until the ruling of the Constitutional Court of FBiH.
Before the amendments to Article 81, persons with, for example, 15 years of service and 65 years of age were entitled to a minimum pension. It currently amounts to 666.76 KM. Now Article 81 introduces a differentiated calculation of pensions, so those with up to 20 years of service and 65 years of age cannot have a pension lower than 60 percent of the average pension from December of the previous year, which according to current calculations is 434 KM.
It is necessary to remind that many who have been working since 1996 until today, which is a span of some 30 years, have 16, 17, 20 years of service because their employers did not pay them for service. Workers had the option of working illegally or being unemployed. No one punished such employers, but now the workers who were forced to work for low wages and unregistered are being punished.
The group of representatives requested an evaluation of the constitutionality of Article 13 of the Law on PIO. The question arises as to whether the law may be applied retroactively. This directly encroaches on the acquired and expected rights of citizens and violates the principle of legal certainty.
The law was confirmed in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament on January 23, and has been in effect since January 1. As Faktor learns, the request for constitutional review was initiated by the Club of Independent Representatives, and it was supported by representatives of the DF, SDA and the Republican Party.
This collected more than enough signatures to start an administrative dispute before the Constitutional Court of FBiH.
The documentation was submitted to the Constitutional Court of FBiH today, it says Factor.
