– The most painful is that most of the departing officers devoted a quarter of a century of hard work and the fight against crime to finally become cheated – a former policeman tells us. It is about reducing remuneration and retirement benefits to those who left, among others, the police, fire brigades or the Border Guard at the beginning of 2023. A sentence was passed in one such case in the District Court in Zielona Góra.
In February, we wrote that in 2023 in the services of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration The number of dismissals unprecedented in the history.
After the publication of the article with our editors, a former police officer contacted. He said that the government Mateusz MorawieckiIn order to stop the wave, he introduced the Act of December 1, 2022 on special solutions for the implementation of the budget act for 2023.
– it concerned, among others, officers leaving the service from January until the end of February 2023. It turned out that the government PIS He punished us with a reduction in the salaries due. This happened as a result of obvious manipulation – he explains to us a uniformed one who got a smaller salary and pension.
– This manipulation took place for the first and only time in the history of uniformed services. It is also worth noting here that in 2024 officers leaving the service obtained a salary increase from January 1, 2024 with effect in the form of properly calculated retirement benefits – he adds.
He admits in an interview with tvn24.pl that “the most painful is that most of the departing officers devoted a quarter of a century of hard work and the fight against crime to finally be cheated.”
RPO: violation of the principle of trust in the state and law
A spokesman for civil rights referred to the case of lower salaries Marcin Wiącek. In February 2024, he drew attention in correspondence with the Ministry of the Interior and Administration that in the Budget Act for 2023 in the scope of salaries, specific professional groups (professional soldiers and officers) received pay valorisation in accordance with the base amount of PLN 1,740.64, but in the period from March 1, 2023 to December 3, 2023. Thus, leaving salaries in the period from January 1, 2023 to February 28, 2023 at the current level, i.e. PLN 1,614.69.
He reminded that the Act came into force in early December 2022. “Persons submitting a request for release from service several months in advance did not have precise knowledge about the effects that this decision will have in terms of the amount of their salary and the future retirement benefit” – noted Wiącek.
As he added in the letter to the Ministry of Interior and Administration, “those interested indicate that deprivation of their salary increases at that time had a directly affected the amount of pensions, reducing them by 7.8 percent.”
The RPO pointed out that some of the retirement or disability did not do it on their own initiative, but they were forced because of their health.
“For example, a complaint was lodged by an officer released from the Border Guard on February 21, 2023 and immediately after that she was hospitalized in the neurosis treatment department. She is currently under the constant care of a psychiatrist, benefits from psychotherapy, having maintained a 10 -year -old daughter. Another applicant received as a result of medical examinations a certificate of permanent incapacity for service – cat. C. The prison service officer went to retirement and disability supply due to the chronic, incurable and progressive disease leading to disability.
“The majority of conclusions to the Ombudsman concerns a violation of the principle of trust in the state and law, because people who then decided to leave the service wanted to do so on the most favorable conditions” – emphasized the RPO in a letter to the Ministry of Interior and Administration.
Deputy Minister of the Interior, Wiesław Szczepański, in response to the correspondence of the ROP, admitted that the ministry shares the view that the provision in the circudish act was unfavorable for officers who retired in the first two months of 2023. As he explained, this solution was the result of the decision of the then management of the ministry, “aimed at stopping experienced officers from leaving service.”
Ministry of Interior and Administration: Ten thousand officers have passed
We ask Ministry of the Interior and administration about the issue of reduced salaries. The press department told us that from the service from January 1, 2023 to February 28, 2023, a total of nearly 10,000 left. Police officers, State Fire Service, Border Guard and State Protection Service.
In response to our questions, it was written that the circudish law was closely related to the Budget Act for 2023. The circudish act ceased to apply on December 31, 2023.
The press department of the ministry pointed out that the bill was sent to the Sejm on September 30, 2022. “From that day, the text of the planned act was widely available, and persons submitting a request for release from service several months in advance had access to information on what effects this decision would have in terms of their salary and future retirement benefit” – explained the Ministry of Interior and Administration.
After 23 years of service, he went to court
In the District Court in Zielona Góra, on December 20 of the previous year, the judgment in the case of a retired border service officer who spent 23 years in service became final. He sued the Border Guard Department of the Border Guard in Krosno Odrzańskie.
The court awarded the defendant to the plaintiff as equalizing the overdue remuneration, the amount of 1 thousand. 80 groszy with statutory interest for delay:
a) from the amount of 538, PLN 20 from January 2, 2023 to the date of payment,
b) from the amount of 462, 60 PLN from February 01, 2023 to the date of payment.
“The plaintiff indicated that the Budget Act in 2023 set the base amount at PLN 1740, PLN 64 for professional soldiers and officers. The rules for determining their remuneration remained unchanged for years. In Article 41 of the Act of 01.12.2022 – on special solutions for the implementation of the budget act for 2023, specified groups of officers were excluded from uniform treatment” – we read in the justification. sentence.
It was added that “lower base amounts were introduced, for those who decided to retire from March 2023. Then, at valorization, those officers who left on 01/03/2023 were omitted to retire, and who remained in the active service in January and February this year. Referring to Art.
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