Karolina Rzepecka on restoring pension amounts through clemency for Prawo.pl

Since March 12, 2024, based on Article 8a of the Pension Act, the Minister of the Interior and Administration has issued a series of positive decisions that restored the original level of pensions, before they were reduced under the 2016 deubekization law. Many of the minister’s decisions restored the pension amounts not as a result of a final court ruling, but through a “clemency” procedure.

Karolina Rzepecka, an Advocate in the Labor Law Department at the Sadkowski and Partners, in an article for Prawo.pl, explains the purpose of Article 8a(1) of the Pension Act, which grants the minister the ability to restore benefits to individuals covered by the repressive law. She also highlights the interpretative possibilities of the general clause “particularly justified cases.”

“It concerns individuals whose service, in addition to being brief before July 31, 1990, is distinguished by exceptional, individual, and even ‘unique’ merits and achievements in professional activity in service after September 12, 1989. The assessment of such merits, due to their diversity, uniqueness, and often incommensurability, as well as the assessment of the short duration of service, has been entrusted to the authority as part of administrative discretion. Therefore, merely performing the service reliably and with the utmost dedication does not fulfill this condition, as the essence of any service implies that the officer must carry out the tasks entrusted to them with the highest readiness and diligence,” emphasizes our expert.

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