Mistakes in labor: a woman was denied a pension, a court decision

The PFU refused to grant the citizen an old-age pension due to the lack of the full date of her birth in the relevant employment book and the mismatch of the last name with the certificate about marriage

The citizen intended to issue pension payments based on age, but the employees of the Pension Fund discovered discrepancies in her employment book. Namely, the full date of birth is missing, and the last name given in Russian does not correspond to her marriage certificate. This is stated in the decision of the Pishchansky district court of the Vinnytsia region, published on October 14, 2025.

A citizen carries out the procedure for registration of an old-age pension. During the preparation of the documents that provide grounds for receiving a pension, the authorized officials of the Pension Fund stated that her work book does not contain the exact date of birth, and besides, her last name, recorded in the work book in Russian, is different from her marriage certificate. The time of study at the Zaporizhzhya Cooperative School from 1978 to July 23, 1981, according to the diploma, her last name in Russian does not agree with the marriage certificate. As of today, according to the extract from the State Registry Office dated April 1, 2025, the correction of her last name, indicated in the marriage certificate, has been carried out. Since her full date of birth is missing in her employment record and her last name does not match the marriage certificate, this complicates the process of applying for her pension. In order to establish the fact of ownership of the legal documents, namely, that the employment book is written in Russian, the date of birth is 1962, as well as the diploma, where her surname is noted in Russian, belong to her, she is forced to turn to the court, because she has no other way to eliminate these shortcomings.

What decision did the court make? The woman’s claims were satisfied. The court decided to establish the fact that the employment book filled out on July 13, 1981 in Russian, date of birth 1962, as well as the diploma issued on July 23, 1981 by the Zaporizhia Secondary Vocational Cooperative School of the Zaporizhia Regional Consumer Union, filled in in Russian, registration number 447, belong to the applicant.

“During the consideration of the case, on the basis of the evidence presented, the court established that the applicant’s surname in the employment book, filled out on July 13, 1981 in Russian, does not coincide with the applicant’s surname, which is indicated in Russian on her birth certificate, “Onyshchuk”, and the applicant’s surname in the diploma issued on July 23, 1981 in Russian, does not coincide with the surname of the applicant, which is specified in Russian in her “Onyshchuk” birth certificate, which serves as an obstacle for the applicant to apply for a pension. The specified inaccuracies in the spelling of the applicant’s surname in Russian in the employment book and diploma, which do not match the spelling of her surname in Russian in the birth certificate, make it difficult for the applicant to apply for a pension. Thus, during the consideration of the case, it was clarified and confirmed by relevant evidence that when filling the applicant’s work book in Russian and when issuing a diploma in her name in Russian, mistakes were made in writing her last name, and therefore the court concludes that the court has received enough evidence that makes it possible to establish the fact that the work book, filled out on July 13, 1981 in Russian, the date of birth is 1962, as well as the diploma issued on July 23, 1981 by the Zaporizhia Secondary Vocational School cooperative by the school of the Zaporizhzhya Regional Consumer Union, filled in in Russian, registration No. 447, belongs to the applicant,” the court stressed.

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