Here is a detailed analysis of the court decision prepared for you:
1. The subject of the dispute is the lawfulness of returning a statement of claim filed by a serviceman due to the expiration of the time limit for applying to the court with claims regarding the payment of monetary allowance indexation.
2. The court of cassation instance concluded that the lower instances did not examine the key circumstances that determine the commencement of the time limit for applying to the court. In particular, the courts did not establish whether the plaintiff had received a “monetary certificate” (hroshovyi atestat) or another document containing information on the accrued and paid amounts, as it is the moment of familiarization with such a document that the law links to the commencement of the three-month period. The Supreme Court in this case emphasized that it is departing from the previous position set forth in a number of rulings of the Administrative Cassation Court regarding the application of time limits for applying to the court. The Judicial Chamber established that the amendments to Article 233 of the Labor Code of Ukraine, which limited the period for filing a claim to three months, do not apply to legal relations that arose before July 19, 2022. For the period after this date, courts are obliged to verify when exactly a person received documentary confirmation of the payments, rather than simply calculating the period from the moment the right to payment arose. At the same time, the court rejected the plaintiff’s arguments that the mere fact of martial law or active military service automatically restores time limits if the person was not restricted in their access to justice.
3. The Supreme Court set aside the ruling of the court of first instance and the decision of the court of appeal, remanding the case to the court of first instance for further proceedings.
