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A panel for the appeals' resolution in the interest of law from the Supreme Court postponed on Monday, for 13 March, the discussion of the non-unitary way in which the courts in Romania enforce the legal provisions regarding the 13-year reduction of the retirement age for energy workers, told Agerpres.
The members of the Energetica Federation and workers in the energy area requested on Monday, before the High Court of Cassation and Justice (ICCJ), the enforcement of the Law which stipulates the reduction of the retirement age to 52 years for workers in thermal power plants running on coal and surface mining.
"Law No.197/2001, which supplemented the Pensions Law, stipulates that all workers in thermal coal-fired power plants and surface mining benefit from a reduction in the retirement period by 13 years, i.e. they can retire at 52 if they meet two conditions: at least 30 years working in a thermal power plant and 25 years of contributions, and the Ministry of Labor, through the Pension Houses, do not want to implement this law for two years. The workers who meet these conditions submitted the files, which were rejected by the Pension Houses and then they went to court. The surprise came that some courts ruled in our favor, other courts ruled in favor of the Pension Houses. We went to the Courts of Appeal, and the Suceava Court of Appeal notified the High Court in order to make a unified decision at national level regarding this law. Today, the High Court will rule on this notification from the Suceava Court of Appeal. The response must be the correct one. If they come up with a decision which doesn't prove us right, we will analyze what needs to be done further," vice-president of the Energetica Federation Sorin Turcu told AGERPRES.
"In some counties, [the court] ruled in favor of the workers, and, in some counties, they ruled in favor of the Pension Houses, which, probably, at the command of the Labour Ministry, don't want to enforce the law," the Energetica Federation vice-president stated.
Sorin Turcu explained that, in Romania, the retirement age for men is 65 and in the Pension Law there are certain categories that benefit from the reduction of the retirement age because of the conditions, the working environment.
"The employees of the surface mining and thermo power plants running on coal are carrying their activity in harsh conditions," Sorin Turcu showed.
