On Old-Age and Disability Pensions from the Social Insurance Fund

Journal of Laws 1998 No. 162 item 1118

ACT

of 17 December 1998

on Old-Age and Disability Pensions from the Social Insurance Fund

Developed on the basis of: uniform text in Journal of Laws of 2004 No. 39, item 353, No. 64, item 593, No. 99, item 1001, No. 120, item 1252, No. 121, item 1264, No. 144, item 1530, No. 191, item 1954, No. 210, item 2135, No. 236, item 2355.

Section I

General provisions

Chapter 1

Scope ratione personae and ratione materiae of the Act

Article 1. 1. The Act specifies:

1) the terms of acquisition of the entitlement to cash benefits from old-age and disability insurance;

2) the principles of determining the amount of benefits;

3) the principles and procedure of awarding and payment of benefits.

2 - 3. (repealed)

4. The terms of acquisition of the entitlement to cash benefits from social insurance in case of employment injuries and occupational diseases and the amounts of those benefits are specified in separate provisions.

Article 2. 1. The following persons are entitled to benefits on terms and in amounts provided for in the Act:

1) insured persons – where they meet the conditions for acquiring entitlement to cash benefits from the old-age and disability insurance under the Social Insurance Fund, with the exception of insured persons who have a determined entitlement to pension specified in the provisions on pensions of professional soldiers and in the provisions on old-age pensions of functionaries of the Police, Office of State Protection, Internal Security Agency, Intelligence Agency, Border Guards, Government Security Bureau, State Fire Protection Services, and Prison Guards, calculated allowing for contributory periods mentioned in Article 6 paragraph 1 subparagraphs1-3, 5 and 7-10, and in paragraph 2;

2) family members surviving after the death of insured persons or persons entitled to cash benefits from the old-age and disability insurance under the Social Insurance Fund, with the exception of family members surviving after the death of an insured person who has a determined entitlement to a police or military pension, calculated allowing for contributory periods mentioned in Article 6 paragraph 1 subparagraphs1-3, 5 and 7-10, and in paragraph 2.

2. Professional soldiers and functionaries of the Police, Office of State Protection, Internal Security Agency, Intelligence Agency, Border Guards, Government Security Bureau, State Fire Protection Services, and Prison Guards are also entitled to benefits on terms and in amounts specified in the Act if they do not meet the conditions for acquiring the entitlement to benefits specified in provisions on pensions for those persons, and family members surviving after the death of those persons.

Article 3. Benefits specified in the Act include:

1) an old-age pension;

2) an invalidity pension, including training pension;

3) a survivors’ pension;

4) a nursing supplement;

5) a supplement to a survivors’ pension for a full orphan;

6) a funeral grant.

Article 4. Names used in the Act shall have the following meaning:

1) old-age pensioner – a person with an established old-age pension entitlement;

2) life pension – a pension from a pension institution operating on the basis of provisions on pension institutions;

3) Fund – the Social Insurance Fund mentioned in provisions on the Social Insurance System;

4) insured person’s account – insured person’s account specified in provisions on the Social Insurance System, maintained by the Social Insurance Institution herein referred to as the "Institution";

4a) amount of the annual old-age and disability pension insurance assessment base – the annual contribution assessment base with regard to old-age and disability pension insurance in the particular calendar year, specified in Article 19 paragraph 1 of the Act of 13 October 1998 on Social Insurance System (Journal of Laws No.137, item887, as amended[1]);

5) insurance period – the period of payment of old-age and disability pension insurance contributions and the period of non-payment of contributions due to the exceeding of the annual contribution assessment base mentioned in provisions on Social Insurance System during the calendar year;

6) body for old-age and disability pensions – the organisational unit of the Institution, specified in the provisions on the Social Insurance System, competent for issuing decisions concerning benefits;

7) open-end pension fund – the fund selected by the insured person from among pension funds mentioned in provisions on the organisation and functioning of pension funds;

8) contribution payer – the contribution payer mentioned in provisions on the Social Insurance System;

9) average wage – the average monthly gross wage in the national economy, announced in the Official Journal of the Republic of Poland "Monitor Polski" by the President of the Central Statistical Office;

10) disability pension – invalidity pension and survivors’ pension;

11) disability pensioner – a person with an established entitlement to the invalidity pension or to the survivors’ pension;

12) old-age and disability pension insurance – insurance mentioned in provisions on the Social Insurance System;

13) insured person – a person subject to old-age and disability pension insurance specified in provisions on the Social Insurance System, as well as the person who, before the effective date of the Act was subject to social insurance or pension entitlement, with the exception of farmers’ social insurance.

Chapter 2

Periods taken into account in the establishment of the entitlement to benefits and their amounts

Article 5. 1. In the course of determining the entitlement to old-age and disability pensions and calculating their amounts, the following periods are taken into account, subject to paragraphs 2-5:

1) contributory periods mentioned in Article 6;

2) non-contributory periods mentioned in Article 7.

2. In the course of determining the entitlement to old-age and disability pensions and calculating their amounts, non-contributory periods are taken into account to the extent not exceeding one third of the proven contributory periods.

2a. The periods mentioned in Article 6 paragraph 1, subparagraph4 and subparagraph6 letters a-e and g, are not taken into account in the course of determination of the entitlement to old-age and disability pensions and calculating their amounts if on their basis the entitlement to cash benefits specified in the provisions of pension entitlements of persons mentioned in Article 2 paragraph 2 has been established.

3. In the course of determining the entitlement to an old-age or disability pension, the periods:

1) of veterans’ activity and activity equivalent to veterans’ activity, as well as periods included in the periods of such activity and periods during which the eligible person was subject to war and post-war repressions mentioned in Article 6 paragraph 1 subparagraph5,

2) of forced labour mentioned in Article 6 paragraph 2 subparagraph2

- are taken into account as double their length.

4. In the course of determining the entitlement to an old-age or disability pension for:

1) payers of contributions obliged to pay contributions for their own old-age and disability pension insurance,

2) persons cooperating with persons conducting economic activities outside agriculture

- periods for which contributions have not been paid are not taken into account despite the fact of being covered by compulsory old-age and disability pension insurance during that period.

5. With regard to insured persons obliged to pay contributions for their own social insurance for the period before the effective date of the act, and persons cooperating with persons conducting economic activities outside agriculture before the effective date of the Act, the provision of paragraph 4 shall apply accordingly.

Article 6. 1. The following periods are contributory periods:

1) periods of insurance;

2) periods of payment of social insurance contributions in the amounts specified in the provisions on the organisation and functioning of social insurance, in provisions mentioned in Article 195 subparagraphs1-4 and 8, in provisions on the Bar, in provisions on employment and prevention of unemployment, and in provisions on social assistance;

3) periods included in the periods of social insurance of the clergy:

a) periods during which a person was a clergyman before 1 July1989, provided that the social insurance contributions were paid for the entire period during which that person was subject to that insurance,

b) periods during which clergymen stayed on missions and periods during which the clergymen conducted pastoral work among Polish émigré circles, taking place after 14 November 1991, until the effective date of the Act;

4) periods of active military service in the Polish Army or periods equivalent to them, or periods of substitutive forms of that service;

5) periods of veterans’ activity and activity equivalent to veterans’ activity, as well as periods included in the periods of such activity and periods during which the eligible person was subject to war and post-war repressions, specified in the provisions on veterans and certain persons who are victims of war and post-war repressions;

6) periods of service in the following formations in Poland:

a) Police (Citizens’ Militia),

b) Office of State Protection, Internal Security Agency, Intelligence Agency (public security bodies),

c) Border Guards,

d) Prison Guards,

e) State Fire Protection Services,

f) Customs Services,

g) Government Security Bureau;

7) periods of collection of the maternity allowance;

8) periods of imprisonment served in prisons or other places of isolation within the territory of Poland on the basis of a conviction or without a sentence after 31 December 1956 for political activities;

9) periods of employment abroad for persons who were not Polish nationals at that time if those persons returned to Poland after 22 July 1944 and were considered to be repatriates;

10) periods of work provided after 1956 for the benefit of political organisations and trade unions which were illegal within the meaning of regulations in force until the end of 1989.

2. The following periods, falling before 15 November 1991, for which the social insurance contribution was paid or for which there was no obligation to pay social insurance contributions, are also considered to be contributory periods:

1) periods of employment after the person concerned has turned 15:

a) within the territory of Poland – to the extent not less than half of the full working time if the employer collected wages or social assistance allowances: sickness allowance, maternity allowance or child-minding allowance, or sickness pension during those periods,

b) for Polish nationals abroad – in Polish diplomatic delegations and consular offices, in permanent delegations to the United Nations, and in other missions or special missions, as well as other Polish outposts, institutions or enterprises to which they have been delegated or appointed; this also refers to members of the delegated or appointed worker’s family who commenced employment in those outposts during their stay abroad,

c) for Polish nationals abroad – in international organisations, foreign institutions and in institutions to which they were sent under the international cooperation or in which they were employed with the consent of the competent Polish authorities; the consent is not required with regard to workers who left Poland before 9 May 1945,

d) for Polish nationals abroad – working for other foreign employers if during the period of work abroad contributions to social insurance in Poland were paid;

2) periods of forced labour:

a) performed for Nazi Germany during the Second World War,

b) performed within the territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the period from 17 September 1939 to 31 December 1956,

c) performed upon the order of Allied Forces until 31 December 1945,

d) performed in coal mines, quarries, uranium ore mining and enriching plants, and in construction battalions during military service in the Polish Army;

3) periods of employment of minors within the territory of Poland on principles specified in provisions binding before 1 January 1975;

4) periods of work performed during the penalty of imprisonment, short-term detention for an offence and during provisional detention within the territory of Poland – to the extent of working time no shorter than half of the entire working time specified for such work;

5) periods of non-performance of work after the conclusion of employment if remuneration or compensation has been paid for those periods pursuant to the provisions of the Labour Code;

6) periods of temporary unemployment within the territory of Poland due to inability to find it or inability to undergo vocational training, including periods of collection of allowances from the vocational activation fund, unemployment allowances and training allowances from the Labour Fund;

7) periods of holding the office of a Deputy to Parliament or Senator in Poland;

8) periods of internment pursuant to Article 42 of the Decree of 12 December 1981 on martial law (Journal of Laws No.29, item154, of 1982 No. 3, item18 and of 1989 No. 34, item178);

9) periods of performance of creative or artistic activities within the territory of Poland:

a) covered by social insurance obligation, for which social insurance contributions were paid, or during which the insured person was exempted from paying the contributions,

b) falling before 1 January 1974, accepted by the Commission for Authors’ Pension Entitlement, operating by the minister competent for culture, provided that the author or artist paid social insurance contributions after 31 December 1973;

10) periods of work of barristers performed within the territory of Poland:

a) covered by the social insurance obligation, for which social insurance contributions were paid, or during which the insured person was exempted from paying the contributions,

b) before the date of covering the person with the social insurance obligation for the performance of that work;

11) periods of performance of home employment performed within the territory of Poland:

a) covered by the social insurance obligation, for which social insurance contributions were paid, or during which the insured person was exempted from paying the contributions,

b) before the date of covering the person with the social insurance obligation for the performance of that work,

if during those periods the person performing such work obtained wages of at least half of the lowest wage currently in force, specified on the basis of the provisions of the Labour Code;

12) periods of work within the territory of Poland, performed in agricultural production cooperatives and in other cooperatives associated in the Central Union of Agricultural Production Cooperatives, in group farms of cooperatives of farming groups associated in the National Union of Farmers, Farming Groups and Organisations, and work for those cooperatives: