New procedure for early pension appointments in Azerbaijan: who will be affected by the changes?

The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Azerbaijan has provided clarifications regarding the new changes to the "Rules for appointment, calculation, recalculation, transfer from one type of work pension to another and its payment," approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

As reported by BAKU.WS with reference to the press service of the ministry, according to current regulations, early pension appointments under preferential conditions for persons employed in underground work, in special fields of art, as well as in industries with particularly harmful and difficult working conditions, were carried out on the basis of a certificate provided by the employer of the enterprise where the citizen worked.

In accordance with the new changes, if providing such a certificate is impossible due to the termination of the enterprise's activities, the relevant period of work will be included in the preferential work experience based on the citizen's profession matching the "List of industries, professions, positions and indicators that give the right to an age-based work pension on preferential terms," approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. This will allow such workers to obtain the right to an early pension.

The calculation of preferential work experience in such cases will be based on data from the Əmək və Məşğulluq ("Labor and Employment") subsystem regarding employment contracts, and in other cases - based on records in the work book or certificates from the state archive.

In addition, the new decision provides that when calculating the work pension for persons receiving service allowances and continuing to work, a higher amount from two options will be assigned: either based on salary or based on pension capital.

Other changes have also been made to the "Rules for appointment, calculation, recalculation, transfer from one type of work pension to another and its payment," aimed at improving and harmonizing the pension system.