Landmark ruling gives men same right to early retirement as women

Following a landmark decision taken by the Greek administrative courts, male workers will now be eligible to opt for early retirement at the same retirement age stipulated for women, provided that they meet the same conditions. As a result, concerns have been raised that the court decision may revive the discussion on whether or not women and men should be granted the same retirement age.

Pension entitlements

Based on current legislation (Law 1848/1951), a working woman aged 50 years or older, who still has a child under 18 years of age and who has over 5,500 days of social insurance accrued, is entitled to request early retirement from the Social Insurance Institute (IKA). On the basis of existing regulations in Greece, the following categories of women are eligible to receive a pension:

• women aged 50 years who still have a child aged under 18 years;

• women aged 56–57 years who are working in occupations designated as dangerous and unhealthy;

• women aged 55 years of age are entitled to receive a reduced pension, unlike men, who as a rule may receive a reduced pension at the age of 60 years or a full pension at 65 years of age.

Details of landmark case

In late 2001, a male employee, who still had a child under the age of 18 years and who had met all of the abovementioned conditions for early retirement, applied to the IKA to take early retirement at the age of 50 years. As this was 10 years younger than the minimum retirement age in effect for male employees in Greece, the IKA rejected his application on the grounds that the relevant legislation only applies to insured female employees. As a result, the employee in question applied to the relevant administrative court to have the negative ruling of the IKA branch officer reversed.

In Decision No. 486/2005, the three-member Piraeus Administrative Court of Appeal accepted the insured employee’s application, thus obliging his insurance provider to meet the request he had filed four years previously and to grant early retirement with full pension entitlements to the male employee. The decision represents a highly important landmark case in relation to men’s right to early retirement under the current Greek pension system.

Significance of decision

The landmark decision taken by the three-member Piraeus Administrative Court of Appeal has proved to be extremely important for two particular reasons.

The first reason relates to the grounds given for the decision to approve the employee’s application, which directly invoked the principle of equality between the sexes. As the decision outlines, the failure to also grant men the pension in a dispute that concerns facilitating the raising of minors runs contrary to the provisions of the Greek Constitution and to community law. Thus, it can be concluded that, pursuant to the principle of equality laid down in the Constitution, any insured person in Greece who meets all of the lawful conditions stipulated must be granted an old-age pension, irrespective of gender.

The second most significant aspect of the court decision relates to the fact that the situation regarding early retirement for men, and more generally with respect to the minimum retirement age of men, has now been reversed. By extension, an influx of thousands of similar applications to the IKA and to other insurance funds is a likely possibility in the near future.

The IKA immediately accepted the decision of the Court of Appeal and decided not to bring the case before the Council of State. It was probably felt that, in such a case, the Supreme Administrative Court would be highly likely to vindicate the insured person, thus creating a res judicata (a conclusive judgement) in relation to the issue being examined.

Reactions to decision

Several similar court cases are now currently pending. Moreover, it is estimated that if about 1,000–1,500 women avail of the early retirement provisions every year, the number of men meeting these preconditions will be much higher.

The Greek trade union movement – in particular, the Panhellenic Federation of Social Policy Organisation Staff (POPOKP) – believes that this decision will enable many insured men to retire earlier. However, concerns have been raised that if this phenomenon becomes widespread, it may revive the discussion on whether or not women and men should be granted the same retirement age.

Apostolis Kapsalis, Labour Institute of Greek General Confederation of Labour (INE-GSEE)