May pensions: Run to the cash registers

It is noted that, as always, the money is available in the bank accounts from the previous day of payments, in the evening hours.

May pensions: The payment dates

• Today, Thursday, April 25, the pensions for OAEE, OGA, ETAA are paid
• On Monday, April 29, insured persons of IKA-ETAM, banks, OTE, PPC, NAT, ETAT, ETAP-MME and the State will be paid

Pensions: The 8 great injustices of the insurance system

Many injustices in the insurance system remain unremedied and uncorrected for pensioners. The injustice with the Pensioner Solidarity Contribution (EAS), which cuts pension increases, is one of those that will be restored, but there are many other provisions that in the course of their application or due to their poor application end up being to the detriment of the insured and the pensioners, resulting in the creation of multi-speed pensioners.

The insert “Insurance and Pensions” identified the eight biggest injustices of the insurance which should be corrected.

The eight great injustices include:

1. Exclusion of personal difference amount from pension increases. The increase is calculated only in national and compensatory pension, while the personal difference is left out, even though it is part of the old pension that was isolated in the pension recalculation. The personal difference as a part of the pension for which contributions have been paid should be included in the increase and the amount of the increase should reduce the personal difference by an equal amount so that it becomes zero more quickly.
2. The discrimination of insured parents in the age limits for pension with a minor. Only civil servants have the right to pension for men with minor child provisions, not private employees, not even DEKO workers, where the minor’s pension is provided only for female employees with insurance before 1993. The same prohibition applies to parents with three or more children in the private sector, while in the public sector (without rehabilitation) there is a distinction in the pensions of parents with a minor.
3. The parallel insurance period for pensioners who left before the Katrougalou law (before 13/5/2016), for which the 0.075% surcharge applied to pensioners who leave after 13/5/2016 and who had parallel insurance does not apply . Old pensioners before May 2026, who happened to have double insurance due to status or profession, in order not to lose their contributions, would have to complete 16 years of insurance and age 67 to receive a pension from the second Fund. However, too many did not reach the age of 16, as a result of which their contributions remain in the Funds, as they themselves are not even entitled to a refund of contributions. So while those who left after May 2016 (after the Katrougalos law) and had two Funds get a pension increase of 0.075% for the additional contributions, those who retired before May 2016 are not entitled to anything unless they completed 16 years with parallel insurance.
4. The reduction of the annual increase in pension replacement rates after 40 years. From 36 to 40 years of insurance, the replacement rates increase by a factor of 2.55%. For each year after the 40th, however, the annual top-up increase from 2.55% drops sharply to 0.5%. This results in pensioners receiving very little in their pension with contributions from 41 to 44.10 years of insurance, while from 45 onwards the scheme effectively ceases to be rewarding, as from year to year the pension gain does not exceed 10 euros.
5. The small return given to the pension by the contributions paid by retirees who continue to work. For each year of insurance they get 0.77% of the salary as an extra amount in the pension. The injustice is double because even this very low percentage has not started to be implemented, although the law provides for its implementation from 1/1/2017!
6. The triple sickness contribution paid by pensioners who continue to work with 6% on the main pension, 6% on the supplementary pension and 2.55% as employees. If they are employed as freelancers, then they pay 6% for illness in the main pension, 6% in the auxiliary, 62 euros per month for care as insured freelancers and in addition the law obliges them to pay 10 euros as an unemployment contribution, even though they themselves they are retired!
7. The double reduction of pensions in the cases of OGA old-age pensioners who also receive a widow’s pension. OGA old-age pensioners, if they also receive a widow’s pension from another Fund (e.g. IKA, OAEE, etc.), have a double cut! The welfare portion of the OGA pension is immediately cut for them and when they complete the first three years, the widow’s pension is also cut from 70% to 35%.
8. The non-calculation of the additional earnings of the sailors (Sundays and holidays) in the pensionable earnings taken into account for the recalculation of the NAT pensions, although in these additional earnings the sailors had normal insurance deductions!

What injustices are there in contributions?

A great injustice in the issue of contributions is that the Funds have never rewarded those insured who are consistent in paying their contributions. No bonus or discount has been established for those who pay on time. Consistent policyholders, whether self-employed or employers, do not get any discount when they pay their premiums on time. Something similar to the one-off payment of income tax could apply, where a 3% discount is given to the taxpayer. The lack of incentive pushes many to stop being consistent and end up with debt that they could avoid if the state gave them an incentive for consistency.