Disability pension

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In Austria, an invalidity pension is a statutory pension due to the permanent or temporary reduced earning capacity of a worker . For employees, the comparable insurance benefit is called the disability pension . In the course of a reform, the disability or occupational disability pension was fundamentally changed in 2014. Since then, insured persons born after 1964 have primarily been entitled to the rehabilitation allowance , which was newly introduced at that time. Older employees born before 1963 remain in the previously valid system without the rehabilitation allowance.

For the self-employed and farmers, there is a corresponding counterpart, the disability pension .

requirements

The following requirements apply to both rehabilitation allowance and disability and occupational disability pensions:

  • Fulfillment of a minimum insurance period (waiting period),
  • no entitlement to vocational rehabilitation measures, or these are not appropriate or reasonable,
  • and no entitlement to an old-age pension.

The distinction between whether rehabilitation allowance or an occupational disability or disability pension is due is made on the basis of the expected duration of the occupational disability / disability. If this is available for at least six months, but probably not permanently, the rehabilitation allowance is due. Otherwise, in the event of a likely permanent disability / disability, a fundamentally unlimited disability or disability pension is due.

Terms of disability / occupational disability

Naturally, the question of disability or occupational disability is of particular importance. Based on the previous activities of the insured person, a check is made as to whether or not he is covered by professional protection. This is basically to avoid too great a social decline. The practical consequence of this distinction is the referral field, that is, all those professions that must be medically impossible to practice in order to be considered disabled. If the referral field is small, as is the case with the existence of professional protection, it must only be impossible for the insured person to exercise these few professions in the small referral field; all professions outside the referral field are irrelevant to the question of eligibility. His chances of being considered incapacitated / disabled are accordingly greater.

With a large referral field, on the other hand, there is also a large number of professions that must be medically impossible to practice. This is the case when there is no professional protection, because then the referral field is the entire labor market. The insured must therefore be incapable of exercising any (no matter what) job on the labor market. Therefore, there must be significantly greater health restrictions in order to be considered incapacitated / disabled. An unskilled worker who does not enjoy professional protection would have to work as a night porter, for example, if this is still medically possible for him. In such a case, he would not be entitled to a pension benefit or rehabilitation allowance.

In addition to the basic definitions of terms described below, there are also some special hardship rules that are not presented here due to their complexity.

Worker (invalidity)

The term disability applies to workers ( Section 255 ASVG):

  • A worker who worked predominantly (i.e. at least 90 months of compulsory insurance in the last 15 years) in learned (semi-skilled) professions is considered to be disabled if, as a result of his physical or mental condition, his ability to work is less than half that of a physically and mentally healthy one Insured persons with similar training and equivalent knowledge and skills in each of these professions has fallen (= occupational protection). (§255 Abs. 1 ASVG)
  • A worker who was not, i.e. who did unskilled auxiliary work, is considered to be disabled if, as a result of his physical or mental condition, he is no longer able to perform (read: any) activity that is still valued on the labor market and that is available to him taking account of the activities carried out by him, it can be expected to earn at least half of the remuneration that a physically and mentally healthy insured person regularly earns through such an activity (= no professional protection) (§255 Paragraph 3 ASVG).

A learned profession is one that requires an apprenticeship qualification. A profession is learned when it does not require an apprenticeship qualification, but the quality and scope of the requirements correspond to an apprenticeship. The latter term in particular, the “semi-skilled trade”, repeatedly leads to disputes. The Supreme Court, for example, ruled that a “geriatric nurse and nursing assistant” has a semi-skilled occupation after completing a two-year training course, whereas it has denied this for a one-year training course as a “nursing assistant”. On the other hand, the Supreme Court also admits to an unskilled waitress "who has acquired around 85 percent of the knowledge and skills of a trained waitress through practical work and is therefore able to meet the requirements in a country inn that does not belong to the upscale gastronomy or in a one -Star restaurant to three-star restaurant to trained waiters and waitresses are enough "to have exercised a semi-skilled profession while doing this with a waitress in a motorway service station, an inn, a cafe-restaurant, a cafe -Confectionery and a cafe, on the other hand, no.

Employees (occupational disability)

For employees, the concept of occupational disability is decisive ( § 273 ASVG):

  • If the employee has been employed or employed in a skilled or semi-skilled occupation (see above) in at least 90 months of compulsory insurance within the last 15 years, he is deemed to be unable to work if his ability to work is less than that due to his physical or mental condition Half of that of a physically and mentally healthy insured person with similar training and equivalent knowledge and skills has fallen (= occupational protection).
  • Otherwise, he is deemed to be unable to work if, due to his physical or mental condition, he is no longer able to perform (read: any) activity that is still valued on the labor market and that can be expected of him under reasonable consideration of the activities performed by him, to acquire at least half of the remuneration that a physically and mentally healthy insured person regularly earns through such an activity (= no professional protection).

Vocational rehabilitation

In accordance with the principle of “rehabilitation before retirement”, every application for disability or occupational disability pension is primarily an application for rehabilitation. Therefore, if the other prerequisites are met, it is first checked whether the (impending) disability / occupational disability can be eliminated through reasonable and appropriate occupational rehabilitation measures. In this case, no disability or occupational disability pension and no rehabilitation allowance are due, but rather a retraining allowance via the AMS or a transition allowance for the duration of these measures .

Despite this complicated design, which sometimes gives the impression that the legislature may have lost track of itself, occupational rehabilitation is only relevant for a relatively small number of insured persons, at least in terms of the absolute figures (see #Current figures ).

Rehabilitation allowance

One of the objectives of the pension reform that has taken place was to reduce the number of people who receive a disability or disability pension for a limited period and essentially without ongoing care. That is why the rehabilitation allowance was introduced. It has replaced the former limited occupational disability / invalidity pension in order to keep people with temporary health impairments as active as possible and to reintegrate them into working life. A core element is the so-called case management, which is taken over by the local health insurance fund. This is intended to ensure ongoing, close-knit support for the recipients of rehabilitation allowances, for example by creating individual pension plans and, through the obligation of the beneficiary to cooperate, monitoring compliance with them. During the period of receipt of rehabilitation allowance, there is also an entitlement to rehabilitation measures. Current results of all these efforts can be found under #Current Figures .

Time limit

The rehabilitation allowance is generally granted for an unlimited period. However, the beneficiary must be re-examined at any time if necessary as part of the ongoing case management and at the latest after one year and checked whether the disability or occupational disability still exists.

If the occupational disability / disability is likely to be permanent, an unlimited occupational disability or disability pension is due immediately.

Benefit level

Unlike in some other pension systems, the pension amount is not based on the degree of reduced earning capacity , but is calculated purely on the basis of the months of insurance acquired (plus any additional months that may be added depending on age) and the assessment basis. The amount of the rehabilitation allowance is based on the amount of the sickness allowance, but must at least equal the amount of the equalization supplement reference rate.

Procedure

The procedure begins with an application to the pension insurance company or the insurance company for railways and mining according to the jurisdiction regulated by law. A possible advance payment, if the award of the pension is generally probable, but the application will probably not be able to be processed within two months, will be made by the Public Employment Service .

There is also the option of submitting an application for a determination to check the feasibility of medical or vocational rehabilitation measures before applying for a pension. This examines and determines whether the disability / occupational disability already exists or will exist in the foreseeable future ( § 255a or § 273a ASVG).

In principle, the insurance carrier makes a decision based on a medical assessment. If the insured does not agree with this, he can file a lawsuit at the competent labor and social court. This then carries out a new procedure, which means that there is usually a renewed assessment by judicial experts who are independent of the insurance carrier (Section 87 (5 ) ASGG). In the first instance, legal proceedings are generally free of charge for the insured person and there is no legal requirement.

Current numbers

Of around 57,000 applications for disability or occupational disability pensions, around 25,000 were completely rejected in 2018, and around 7,000 people were awarded rehabilitation allowances. With only 50 people, the reason for the rejection of the pension application was that vocational rehabilitation measures were appropriate and reasonable. In 2018, a further 342 people received retraining allowances through the AMS. The renewed assessment of the recipients of rehabilitation allowance after a year at the latest resulted in a further granting of more than 11,000 of a total of around 18,000 respondents being approved; for fewer than 3,000, the receipt was canceled after this examination because their state of health had improved. In contrast, the state of health of over 3,000 people examined had deteriorated to such an extent that they now meet the requirements of the unlimited occupational disability pension. Due to a breach of the duty to cooperate, the benefit was withdrawn from exactly 160 recipients.

In 2018, around 8% of the causes of occupational disability / disability in the around 21,000 recipients of rehabilitation allowance were due to musculoskeletal disorders, but over 67% to psychiatric diseases. There were also cancer (approx. 6%) and cardiovascular diseases (approx. 4%) as numerically smaller groups.

Germany

The statutory pension insurance in Germany grants acc. Section 43 SGB ​​VI pensions due to reduced earning capacity .

Switzerland

In Switzerland, benefits in kind and in cash in the event of disability are regulated in the federal law on disability insurance .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pensionsversicherungsanstalt: Invalidity or occupational disability pension - cohorts born from 1964 (from January 1, 2014). Retrieved October 10, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b Walter Pfeil: Austrian Social Law . 12th edition. Verlag Österreich, 2018, ISBN 978-3-7046-8044-0 , pp. 101 ff .
  3. ^ A b Walter Pfeil: Austrian Social Law . 12th edition. Verlag Österreich, 2018, ISBN 978-3-7046-8044-0 , pp. 103 .
  4. ↑ OGH of July 26th, 2007, 10 ObS 66 / 07i.
  5. ↑ OGH of May 28, 2002, 10 ObS 154 / 02y.
  6. ↑ OGH of November 14, 1995, 10 ObS 200/95.
  7. ↑ OGH from October 22nd, 1991, 10 ObS 307/91.
  8. ↑ Public Employment Service: retraining allowance. Retrieved October 10, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Dieter Weiß: The pension applicant in the abyss between the legal situations . In: The right of work . No. 374 , p. 63 ff . ( drda.at [accessed October 10, 2019]).
  10. ↑ Federal Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection : Explanations on the government bill on the SRÄG 2012 . S. 4th f . ( bka.gv.at [PDF; accessed on October 10, 2019]).
  11. ↑ Pensionsversicherungsanstalt: Annual report of the Pensionsversicherungsanstalt 2018 . S. 186 ( pensionsversicherung.at [PDF; accessed on October 10, 2019]).
  12. ↑ Public Employment Service: Annual Report 2018 . S. 23 ( ams.at [PDF; accessed October 10, 2019]).
  13. ↑ Pensionsversicherungsanstalt: Annual report of the Pensionsversicherungsanstalt 2018 . S. 189 ( pensionsversicherung.at [PDF; accessed on October 10, 2019]).
  14. ↑ Pensionsversicherungsanstalt: Annual report of the Pensionsversicherungsanstalt 2018 . S. 187 ( pensionsversicherung.at [PDF; accessed on October 10, 2019]).

literature

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