Some judges sue for salaries for years when they did not work - Supreme Court head

Five judges of the liquidated Supreme Court of Ukraine have been reassigned to the renewed Supreme Court. Some judges are suing for the payment of their salaries as Supreme Court judges, in the amount of about UAH 300,000, for the preceding years during which they did not work.

President of the Supreme Court, Stanislav Kravchenko, said this in a commentary to Ukrinform.

Kravchenko said that in early January 2024, judges Bohdan Poshva, Oleh Kryvenda, Anatoliy Yemets, Tetyana Zhayvoronok and Viktor Shkoliarov, along with employees from the former Supreme Court apparatus, were appointed to the Supreme Court in accordance with the law on ensuring the continuity of the administration of justice by the highest court in Ukraine's judicial system, which was adopted by Parliament in November 2023.

According to Kravchenko, judge Bohdan Poshva resigned from his post shortly after assuming a position on the Supreme Court. The remaining judges administer justice in the Courts of Cassation as part of the Supreme Court.

“I know that some of them are now filing lawsuits trying to get their salaries back as Supreme Court judges from the date of the Constitutional Court's decision (February 2020 - ed.),” Kravchenko said.

According to the law, employees of the court's administrative apparatus were also reassigned to the Supreme Court in order to fill the existing vacancies within the aforementioned court.

In consequence of the judicial reform, judges of the higher specialized courts who had passed the qualification assessment chose appellate courts within a period of two months in order to continue administering justice.

“Those who expressed such an intention were reassigned to the courts of appeal, where they  are currently working. Some of them immediately resigned from their new positions,” the Supreme Court head said.

In total, according to the law, about 60 employees, judges of the former Supreme Court and liquidated higher specialized courts, were to be appointed.

Kravchenko said that since the formation of the new Supreme Court in late December 2017, the court has been paying salaries to employees and judges of the Supreme Court who did not pass the competitive selection and were not included in the staff of the Supreme Court, as well as to judges of the liquidated higher specialized courts. Salaries of Supreme Court judges were paid at the level of UAH 50,000-80,000.

“The Supreme Court paid 200,000 hryvnias a day for the salaries of judges of the liquidated Supreme Court of Ukraine, the staff and judges of the liquidated high specialized courts.  The Supreme Court has thus far paid UAH 700-800 million over the entire period. Additionally, if we consider the claims for reimbursement of salaries to the judges of the Supreme Court since the date of the Constitutional Court's decision, the total amount will be approximately one billion hryvnias,” Kravchenko said.

As a reminder, following the 2016 judicial reform, a new Supreme Court was established in Ukraine, with judges selected through a competitive process and receiving a salary increase of up to UAH 300,000.

However, there remained the Supreme Court of Ukraine, which lost its powers to administer justice and had to be liquidated. The judges of the Supreme Court did not agree with its liquidation and challenged it in the Constitutional Court.

In February 2020, the Constitutional Court declared the liquidation of the Supreme Court of Ukraine unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court ordered the Parliament to bring the legislation in line with this ruling.

On November 21, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on ensuring the continuity of justice by the highest court in the Ukrainian judicial system to implement the Constitutional Court decision.

Until then, the Supreme Court judges received salaries from the Supreme Court's funding at the level of UAH 50,000-80,000 per month.