A study on the constitutional issues regarding public officail pension system - Focusing on the decisions of the Constitutional Court - (공무원연금제도의 헌법적 쟁점에 대한 일고찰 - 헌법재판소 결정을 중심으로 -)

Kim, Yoon Hong (김윤홍)

A study on the constitutional issues regarding public officail pension system - Focusing on the decisions of the Constitutional Court -

Legal Theory & Practice Review
Abbr : LTPR
2022, 10(1), pp.79-109
Publisher : The Korea Society for Legal Theory and Practice Inc.
Research Area : Social Science > Law
Received : January 20, 2022
Accepted : February 23, 2022
Published : February 28, 2022

Kim, Yoon Hong ¹

¹전주대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The civil servant pension system in Korea was first implemented in 1960 among Korean pension systems. At that time, it started as a retirement guarantee that guarantees income after retirement as compensation for low remuneration. The civil servant pension system under the Civil Service Pension Act is also based on the Civil Service Act. Therefore, there were special restrictions that do not exist for ordinary workers under the Labor Standards Act, such as the provision of a reduction in pension benefits due to punishment or the suspension of pension payments when re-employment after retirement at an institution receiving the same occupational pension. These provisions were subject to the judgment of the Constitutional Court. As the pension system entered the maturity stage and the number of beneficiaries rapidly increased, the pension finance turned into a deficit, and securing financial soundness became an important and urgent task.To solve this problem, a total of four pension reforms were carried out, and in the process, various institutional and constitutional issues surfaced. The revision was mainly done in a way that changed the standards and contents of pension receipt and insurance premium payment. This has been changed in a direction that is unfavorable to pensioners and increases the burden on incumbent public officials. In addition, issues such as the principle of trust protection due to the retroactive application of the amended regulations, violation of property rights, and violation of various standards of equal rights have been the subject of several constitutional complaints. Despite several revisions, securing fiscal soundness is still insufficient, and the amount of national finance administered to cover the deficit every year is rapidly increasing. In addition, as public interest in equity with the National Pension system, which most of the people are enrolled in, is growing, it is expected that another revision or reform of the system itself will be discussed in the near future. In this regard, I would like to present the issues necessary for future revision by organizing and evaluating the debates on constitutional issues that have been raised due to the revision of the controversial regulations and systems regarding the provisions of the civil servant pension by type, focusing on the decisions of the Constitutional Court.

KEYWORDS

The Public Officials Pension Act, Public Officials Pension Reform, Amendment of the Public Officials Pension Act and Principle of trust protection, Special occupation pension, Right to receive pension.

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