29/09/2011
By Adam Cadle
The European Commission (EC) has requested that Slovak authorities end discriminatory practices in calculating migrant workers’ pensions.
In a statement, the commission cited a case of a Slovak migrant worker who worked in Slovakia from 1959 until 1986, and in Austria until 1994. The EC said that the woman’s pension was calculated solely on the basis of the wage amount she received in Slovakia from 1982-1986.
There was a 118 per cent wage increase in Slovakia between 1986 and 1994, but these changes were not recorded and updated by Slovak authorities to correspond to the pay she would have earned had she continued her employment in Slovakia.
Under EU law there is an obligation for authorities to ‘ensure that the amount of a migrant worker’s social benefits is not reduced when exercising their right to free movement.’
Slovakian authorities have two months to comply with EU legislation, and if policies are not met they could be referred to the EU’s Court of Justice by the EC.
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