Under the Ministry of Labor’s microscope 10+1 glaring injustices in the Catrogalos Law – provisions reviewed by Michaelidou

Not one or two but 11 necessary corrections to the Catrogallo Law under the Ministry of Labor’s microscopeBecause they relate to the turmoil of 2015-16 suffered by thousands of pensioners, they are “hidden” injustices in the insurance system that also determine the next steps on the government’s agenda.

The exact copy of the insurance policy

Specifically, in the subtleties of insurance there are serious issues such as:

1. There is a minimum minimum that the pension may not be less than. However, according to KYA (on behalf of Hekli), the widow’s pension can be much lower than the national pension of €382 with 15 years’ insurance.
2. Greece has the highest retirement age limits. This was acknowledged by both Minister Domna Michelidou and Mr. Tsakloglou, because after the 67th year, there is also the 72nd year (subject to conditions) of exit from the labor market.
3. Retirees whose total income from the main pension is more than 1,400 euros and from supplementary pensions is more than 300 euros pay double taxes. In addition to the tax scale (22% from 10,000 to 21,999 euros, while for large amounts of annual income 32%, etc.) they also pay a solidarity tax. Therefore, this category of pensioners is burdened with tax amounts exceeding 50% of the first euro (with the health contribution).
4. Court decisions are pending on the retrospective payment of benefits for the period from June 2015 to May 2016 (Christmas – Easter gifts and holiday allowance) and the supplementary pension ratios have not been corrected.
5. Double treatment is reserved for widows’ pensions that fall by 35% of the income of the direct insured (deceased). In fact, the law provides for the termination of the national pension in the event of retirement per se (non-payment of a double national pension). Which, when implemented, will convert the widow’s pension into a simple social benefit. In some cases the widow’s pension is reduced to 35% after three years (in case of working or receiving a pension itself), as is the case in the OGA or in the State, but the same does not happen in other individual funds. As a result, the beneficiaries in question (mostly widows) are charged with unjustified overpayment of pensions and burdened with additional health contributions, taxes and solidarity contributions.
6. In the case of farmers, By receiving a widow’s pension, the social part of the OGA pension is completely cut off, with the result that the pension itself turns into pocket money.
7. Farmers’ pensions, especially for the period 2019-2020, are lower than those for uninsured elderly people (less than €400 in total), although in both cases they are issued at age 67, while farmers have paid contributions for 30 years or more. Farmers are not yet entitled to the full national pension, which all insured persons in the urban sector receive, even native citizens or immigrants who have lived in Greece for thirty years.
8. In cases of disability pension The full national pension is not paid, regardless of the beneficiary’s years of insurance. If the disability percentage is less than 80%, the national pension is reduced by 25% and is limited to 50% for a disability percentage of less than 67%.
9. The 10% deduction of work wages for EFKA does not apply to widows. In these cases, 50% of the pension they receive will be deducted if they join work. Even if the widow is in her thirties or forties and has to support her family, and even if the orphaned children want to work, even temporarily, to supplement their income while they study.
10. For the old insured (until 12/5/2016) Parallel insurance time for which a second pension is not received is not allowed to be recognized. This period was not calculated during the submission of the pension application (before Law 4387/2016), as its inclusion at that time did not modify (improve) the amount of the pension. Until 2016 (Law 4387), individual funds in many cases offered a full pension with insurance for 32 or 35 years. As a result, old pensioners do not deposit their previous working time in another sector (successive insurance cases in IKA and a state body or DEKO private fund – banks). The law does not now allow them to use this (extra) time to improve their income.
11. Project topic. It is used mainly by employers in agricultural production and insures employees with a subordinate employment relationship, who appear to work on a step-by-step basis.

It was published in the Abugematini newspaper