ArmInfo. Head of the Social Security Service of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia Hovhannes Sahakyan on March 16 at a meeting with journalists, summing up the results of the half-year activity, called on residents of the country who had falsified in order to increase their work experience, to blame for the elimination of problems in the future. According to Sahakyan, the Monitoring Department of the Social Security Service, based on the results of studies for the period from August 1, 2017 to March 1, 2018, found a number of inconsistencies among 26 employers for 690 pension cases. As a result of recalculation of their seniority, an unjustified length of service for 5138 years and 11 months for the amount of 53 million 927 thousand drams was revealed, 7 million 124 thousand drams were returned to the budget. At the same time, for today, due to the lack of the necessary information base, there are over 54 thousand undisclosed pension cases, which were inherited from the misty 90s. As Sahakian stressed, the specification of the seniority of citizens among the priorities of the department. "We must ensure that citizens who have honestly worked and deserve the right to retirement have exercised their right, and those who do not have such a right could not claim additional payments through falsifications," he said. The inventory of the work experience of citizens of the country is also carried out in the process of digitizing labor books. Since January 1, 2017, labor books have been out of circulation. Labor books held by employers, and according to the estimates of the department about 500 thousand and another 700 thousand on the hands of non-working citizens, should be handed over to the authorized body, which will enter all the information into the information database, and then returned to their owners.
The process started in the middle of the past year, for today the department scanned 100 thousand labor books. Today, the "electronic pension" database records a record of over 14 million years of service. Until January 1, 2019, SSS plans to process information from 550,000 labor books. Speaking about the ongoing reforms, Sahakyan recalled that from January 1, 2017, citizens of the country in online mode could apply for a one-time benefit at the birth of a child on the website epension.am. In general, over a six- month period, 32,000 citizens from 52,400 beneficiaries of the program used the online platform.
At present, the agency introduced a similar - electronic system for receiving benefits in online mode also for third and subsequent children. Since March 1, a similar method can apply for the registration of childcare benefits, the restoration of this right and to apply for benefits for funerals. The innovation of the SES is also the program implemented jointly with the Civil Registry Office, within the framework of which citizens can apply for a childcare benefit directly at the registry office when they receive a birth certificate.
As early as November 2017, Hovhannes Sahakyan stated that if, on the basis of the results of the inspections, it turns out that the appointment of a pension was illegal, and the length of service was not documented through the fault of the employee of the SES, the amount is returned from the employee of the agency, will have to be confiscated from the pensioner. In any case, as Sahakyan assured, the decision to reduce the work record fixed in the work record book is made on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of all data.
There is also another situation where, due to certain conditions, the length of service actually took place, but the documents regarding the employer were not preserved and the corresponding social payments were not made. A pensioner in this case, if he does not agree with the decision made in his case, will have to assert his right to receive a pension in court.
