Unlike all mortals, state pensioners pay no extra contributions or taxes to get more money in old age.
In fact, some do not even need to reach old age to receive benefits amounting to several hundred or over a thousand euros, even if they simply continue to work and receive a salary.
The Ministry of Social Security and Labor reminds that, for example, state pensions for officers and soldiers are granted after 20-25 years of work.
If a young person started this job at the age of 20, then at the age of 40-45 he receives an average state pension of 303 euros, the ministry calculates.
The person receiving it can continue to work in another job and also receive a regular salary. And upon reaching retirement age, in addition to the state pension, he is usually awarded a regular “Sodra” old-age pension.
At that time, residents who have worked as judges for just 5 years can expect a state pension for judges. Its size ranges from 10 to 45 percent. former wages. The average state pension of judges now exceeds 1,031 euros per month. They are also paid the usual “Sodra” old-age pensions – they are quite large, as judges’ salaries exceed the average salary.
On average, 164 euros are allocated to recipients of state researchers’ pensions. For them, the seniority requirement for this pension is 10 years. Scientists also receive additional old-age pensions.
Signatories or former presidents receive much larger payments. The signatories’ pension is linked to the salary of a member of the Seimas and now amounts to 1332 euros. And the president’s income is much higher – it is now 3,776 euros per month.
Sportsmen’s incomes are also considerable. Currently, they amount to 1,762 euros, the Ministry of Social Security and Labor calculates.
The lowest state pensions are for victims. They receive at least 64 euros per month in addition to the ordinary “Sodra” pension.
At that time, the average of state pensions of the second degree I and II is 117 euros.
There is no need to wait for retirement age
According to statistics collected by the ministry, in 2021 the average appointed state pension of officers and soldiers without supplement amounted to 370 euros, with supplement – 568 euros.
In the same year, the average age of the recipient of this state pension at the time of its award was 51 years (to receive the “Sodra” pension in that year, one had to have worked for 63 years).
in 2021 over 40 percent the recipients of state pensions of officers and soldiers were also recipients of “Sodra” pensions, and a third of them were still working and receiving regular wages.
Like previous Governments, this Government is committed to changing the state pension system, which is sometimes referred to as a “livestock farm” in terms of benefits.
However, so far it has not been publicly announced how it is intended to be done.
Trade unions representing officers, soldiers, judges and other professions oppose the reform of state pensions.
They want all taxpayers (including old-age pensioners on low pensions) to continue to contribute to some people’s supplementary pensions through their taxes.
Judges want more money
By the way, this week it was reported that an increasing number of new judges who do not need to do anything about additional pensions, lawsuits about low salaries are reaching Lithuanian courts – recently the Vilnius District Administrative Court received complaints from 99 judges regarding the awarding of compensation for damages caused by the actions of the state and inaction.
Several dozen more complaints have been received by other Lithuanian courts, which were addressed by the judges of Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda.
According to Sodros, the average salary of judges is currently 3,783 euros before taxes or 2,289 euros in hand.
“In March, the Vilnius District Administrative Court received complaints from 65 Vilnius City District Court judges, 26 Vilnius Region District Court judges and eight Regions District Administrative Court judges against the defendant Republic of Lithuania regarding compensation for damage caused by state actions and failure to act,” court representative Audris Kutrevičius informed BNS on Friday. .
The judges ask for a sentence of between 8 and 122 thousand. EUR damages, depending on the judge’s seniority.
The applicants point out in their complaints that the illegal inaction of the legislator, when the judges’ salaries were not proportionally increased since 2013, although there was no economic crisis and no difficult situation in the country, and the minimum monthly wage was rapidly increased and the national average monthly wage was rapidly increasing, is equivalent to reducing the judges’ salaries. and at the same time there is a violation of the principle of their independence, a violation of the right to fair remuneration, and a violation of the right to property.
The applicants also ask to apply to the Constitutional Court to investigate whether the Law on Remuneration of Judges does not contradict the main law of the country – the Constitution.
The Vilnius District Administrative Court has already accepted the complaints of the district court judges of Vilnius City and Vilnius Region.
The defendants – the Ministries of Justice and Finance – are obliged to submit responses to the complaints.
According to A. Kutrevičius, due to the complaint of the judges of the Administrative Court of the Regions District, it was decided to apply to the Special Chamber of Judges regarding the question of jurisdiction: whether this case should be heard by an administrative court or a court of general competence.
The special panel of judges, deciding on disputes related to the salaries of judges, has indicated that the issues of awarding the salaries of judges of courts of general competence are decided by administrative courts, and the questions of salaries of judges of administrative courts are decided by courts of general competence.
In another case under consideration by the Administrative Court of the Regions regarding the awarding of damages to judges, the Constitutional Court has accepted a request to consider the constitutionality of the laws regulating the wages of judges.
The district court of the city of Vilnius also received the lawsuits
At that time, 22 judges of the Vilnius District Administrative Court filed a lawsuit against the Vilnius City District Court – they are asking for damages to be awarded for the period before the filing of the lawsuit and damages calculated according to the formula presented in the lawsuit, until the salaries are increased to the requested amount.
“Sessions in the case were not organized, as the claim has not yet been accepted. The judges of the Vilnius City District Court, who were assigned the case, recused themselves from the hearing of the case, since the persons who initiated the case are judges of the Vilnius District Administrative Court, most of them have worked at the Vilnius City District Court for different periods of time,” Giedrius Janonis, the representative of the Vilnius City District Court, told BNS .
According to him, so that the parties to the case do not have any doubts about the impartiality of the judges who received the case, the judges recuse themselves from the hearing of the case.
“In addition, the claim for damages signed by the judges who received the case (along with other plaintiffs – the judges of the Vilnius City District Court) has been assigned to be examined and accepted by the judge of the Vilnius District Administrative Court, Henrikos Sadauskas, who is one of the plaintiffs in the claim filed in this case”, – said G. Janonis.
As announced, 25 Kaunas District Court judges were among the first to initiate cases regarding judges’ salaries.
According to these judges, after the end of the economic crisis, since October 2013, the salary coefficient for district judges has been restored to the original size, but the base size is still not at the level it was before the crisis.
In recent years, more than one judge has publicly stated that they are retiring from their positions due to low salaries, heavy workload, and lack of assistants.
At that time, the courts operating in the country face a severe shortage of employees in various branches, the courts are constantly in debt to utility service providers and the post office.
