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DISABILITY PENSION

Definition of disability

Disability exists if an insured person suffers a full loss of work capacity, or if there occurs a full loss of capacity to perform professional military service, resulting from the changes in his overall health condition caused by work injury, occupational disease, or injury or illness unrelated to work, that cannot be healed through treatment or medical rehabilitation.

Eligibility conditions

In order to be eligible for disability insurance, an insured person should, simultaneously, meet the conditions regarding the existence of disability and the length of insurance coverage pio.rs/sr/invalidska-penzija

The law stipulates various conditions regarding the insurance coverage period, depending on the causes of disability, and they are as follows:

− if disability is caused by a work injury or occupational disease, regardless of the insurance coverage length

- if disability is caused by an injury or illness unrelated to work, under the condition that the loss of work capacity occurred prior to the years of age stipulated as eligibility condition for old-age pension and that the contributor has no less than five years of insurance coverage length.

Exceptionally, the insured person whose disability is caused by an illness or injury unrelated to work occurred before 30 years of age, is eligible for disability pension under more favourable conditions in relation to the insurance coverage period, if:

- the disability occurred before the insured person reached 20 years of age – in the case of which the eligibility condition is a year of insurance coverage
- the disability occurred before the insured person reached 25 years of age – in the case of which the eligibility condition is two years of insurance coverage
- the disability occurred before the insured person reached 30 years of age – in case of which the eligibility condition is three years of insurance coverage

Work injury is considered to be the following:

− injury of the insured person caused by direct and short-term mechanical, physical or chemical impact, sudden change of body position or other changes in physiological state of the body that happened in spatial, temporal or causal relation  with the work on the basis of which the person is insured

− injury sustained by the insured person on his regular way from home to workplace and vice versa, as well as during travelling on business and travelling for the purposes of taking up the job

− illness of the insured person developed immediately after or developed as a sole consequence of an accident or vis major during performing the work on the basis of which the person is insured

− injury of the insured person sustained in relation to exercising the right to health care on the basis of a work injury or occupational disease, and

− injury the insured person sustains while taking part in activities of saving from or defending from natural disasters, or taking part in military drill, as well as activities in a work camp or while taking part in a competition.

Occupational diseases are the diseases developed during the insurance coverage period, caused by a longer direct impact of processes and conditions of work in workplaces or jobs of the insured person.

Professional diseases are regulated by the Regulationon determining occupational diseases (‘Official Gazetteof the Republic of Serbia’, n. 14/19).

The procedure of exercising the right

The procedure of exercising the right on the basis of disability is initiated, at the request of insured person, with the Republic Fund for Retirement and Disiability Insurance and is submitted along with the proposal for determining disability (form no. 1) issued by the chosen doctor at the local health care centre.

The fact of disability existence and the cause thereof is to be determined by the bodies providing expertise in their reports, opinions and estimations pursuant to the Regulation on forming and the method of work of expertise bodies of the Republic Fund for Retirement and Disability Insurance (‘The Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia’, no. 58/19).

Disability pension is to be paid as of the day of insurance cessation.

When the right to disability insurance is exercised following the cessation of insurance, and disability existed prior to submitting the application, disability pension is to be paid out as of the day of developing disability, but not longer than for the period of six months from the day of submitting the application.

Requests, or forms regarding the exercise of the right to a disability pension, as well as information on the documentation that must be attached to the request, can be found at the following link: pio.rs/en/node/2571

Changes in the state of disability that can have an impact on a established right that is determined by a legally binding decision shall be determined in a procedure initiated at the request of the insured person, the beneficiary of the right, or ex officio, in accordance with the general act of the Fund.