The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs deciding on the removal of any hardship that would arise in the implementation of pension insurance

Main information

In the event that hardship has been found in the implementation of the pension insurance, your request for removal of the hardship will be granted by a decision of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, thereby waiving a statutory condition. The Minister's decision will be implemented by the Czech Social Security Administration, which will issue a new decision on your pension matter. 

The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs may remove severities that would arise in the implementation of social security for persons who are/were not members of the armed forces. For the purposes of removal proceedings of the hardship of law, social security includes pension insurance.

The existence of a final decision on the entitlement to a pension benefit, which could be directly affected by a positive decision on the application for the removal of the hardship, is a prerequisite for the implementation of the procedure for the removal of hardship.

You can make more than one application to remove the harshness of the law, but proceedings can only be started on each subsequent application if you have not raised the same grounds in your application(s) as in the previous one. A repeated request for the removal of a hardship of the law, which has already been decided by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and which does not contain new facts that could affect the change of the previous decision, will be deferred without further delay.

This applies to you if

If a condition of the Pension Act adversely affects you as an insured person, you can apply to have the hardship removed. The adverse effect of the statutory condition must be one that the law could not have foreseen.

When to use this service

The procedure for removing the hardship of the law must necessarily be preceded by a final decision on the application for pension insurance benefits issued by the Czech Social Security Administration. You should therefore apply for hardship removal after a decision has been made on your statutory entitlement to a pension benefit, which could be immediately affected by any positive decision on the hardship removal application.

You can already request the removal of hardship in connection with your claim for pension benefits, but in this case the removal procedure will not commence until after the statutory entitlement procedure has been completed.

If you have applied for hardship removal but have not yet applied for a pension benefit, i.e. there has been no final decision on your statutory entitlement, your application will be deferred without further delay.

Service settlement

What you need if you are using this service

To use this service, you must make a written request in the form of a handwritten, signed submission in a non-prescribed form. The request must state what you are asking for and what exactly you see as the hardship of law. In addition, be sure to include your name, surname, birth number and the address or data box ID to which the decision in the case should be sent.

Where and how to solve this service

Step    1
You can send a request to remove the hardship of the law:

• in person with the district social security administration, in Prague with the Prague Social Security Administration and in Brno with the Municipal Social Security Administration competent according to the place of residence. The relevant social security administration then refers it to the Czech Social Security Administration for processing.
• by post directly to the address of the Czech Social Security Administration or to the address of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The application filed with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs will be forwarded to the Czech Social Security Administration.
  Contacts can be found on the websites of the Czech Social Security Administration and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

Step    2
The Czech Social Security Administration will prepare the necessary documents for your application, which will then be sent to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs for further processing.

Step    3
The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs will prepare the necessary documents for the meeting of the Benefit Commission of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, after which the Czech Social Security Administration will include your application in the next meeting of the Benefit Commission. The Benefit Commission will meet on the appointed date. The Benefit Commission will consider your application for removal of the hardship and then forward it to the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs for a decision. 

Step    4
The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs will make a decision on your application following a hearing at the Benefit Commission. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs will inform you of the outcome of the procedure by decision of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. This decision may grant, partially grant or deny your request to remove the hardship of the law. There is no legal entitlement to positive processing.

Step    5
All decisions of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs are sent both to you as the claimant and to the Czech Social Security Administration. If your request is not granted, the Czech Social Security Administration will file the decision in your benefit file without further action. If your application has been fully or partially granted, the Czech Social Security Administration implements the decision of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, i.e. on the basis of the decision, it decides on the entitlement to a pension, on the entitlement to an adjustment of an already granted pension, on the granting of a supplementary pension payment or on the remission of an overpayment or part thereof. The Czech Social Security Administration will inform you of the outcome of this procedure by sending you a decision (or just a letter if the Minister has decided to waive the overpayment of your pension).

Step    6
If the pension has been awarded, the Czech Social Security Administration will start paying it on the payment date specified in the decision and in the way you chose when you applied for the pension.
If your pension benefit has already been increased, the Czech Social Security Administration will pay you the pension in the new amount at the established payment date in the same way as before (if the date of the pension increase precedes the date of the first pension payment in the new amount, you will receive a supplementary pension payment for this period). 
If a pension top-up is awarded, the amount will be paid to you in a lump sum by the payment method you choose.
If all or part of the overpayment is waived, you will be required to repay the amount to the Czech Social Security Administration. If you have paid the overpayment before the decision to waive the overpayment was issued, the Czech Social Security Administration will refund the amount.

• If you have made a repeat claim for removal of a hardship of law containing the same grounds as your previous claim, or if you have made a claim for removal of a hardship but have not yet made a claim for a pension benefit as a result of which a final decision on a statutory entitlement has not been made, your claim will be deferred without a hearing by the Benefits Commission. You will be notified of this by letter from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
• If there are objections or a judicial review proceedings under an action or appeal pending at the time you have applied for the removal of a hardship relating to a pension benefit, you will be informed by letter that the hardship removal proceedings are suspended and will not resume until the relevant decision has become final. This applies equally if you file an objection, action or appeal after the application has been lodged. Depending on the outcome of the appeal procedure, either the procedure to remove the hardship of law will continue or the Czech Social Security Administration will issue and send you a decision to terminate it.
• If, in the course of the procedure for the removal of a hardship, you are granted a decision on the same matter by the Czech Social Security Administration in accordance with the applicable legislation, you will be informed by letter from the Czech Social Security Administration that the procedure for your request for removal of the hardship is hereby rendered irrelevant.
  

Additional information

What is the benefit of this service

Decision of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs on your request for the removal of hardship. The Minister's decision will be implemented by the Czech Social Security Administration, which will issue a new decision on your pension matter. 

Appeal options

The decision of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs regarding the removal of the hardship of law is final and no appeal is admissible against it.