Compensation for military injuries and payments to military personnel

Author of the article: Lina Smirnova Last modified: January 2021 5889

The activities of citizens with military status are carried out by them in order to protect the interests of the entire population of the country, which is associated with great risks to their health. This obliges the state, in the event that military personnel suffer damage to their health during the performance of official tasks, to guarantee them compensation for its loss. Compensation for damage to health due to military injury occurs on the basis of the rules established by law. Let's consider what is meant by a military injury, what payments are due for it, and what is the procedure for assigning it.

Legislative norms for determining the status of military personnel

In the Russian Federation, the status of military personnel is assigned to employees of particularly important structures. This status includes not only persons called up for fixed-term and contract service, as well as military training, but also employees of law enforcement agencies: the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the FSB, the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service and other entities. The full list of persons belonging to this status is specified in Federal Law No. 4468-1.

Expert commentary

Kamensky Yuri

Lawyer

The main law defining their tasks is Federal Law No. 76-FZ of May 27, 1998. According to it, military personnel are obliged to ensure the defense of the country and prepare for it in any situation: during war and mobilization, in times of emergency in the event of armed mass conflicts.

A serviceman must fulfill his duty, regardless of the risk of harm to health and life associated with the performance of the tasks assigned to him. The special functions of military personnel are regulated not only by the Federal Law, but also by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

Illnesses acquired in service

If an injury, illness, injury or concussion was acquired during service or military training, but is not directly related to the performance of his official duties by the serviceman, compensation for a minor injury is 50,000 rubles, for a severe injury - 100,000.

Disabled people of group I receive 1,500,000 compensation, groups II and III – 1 million and 500 thousand, respectively.

If a serviceman dies as a result of an illness that was contracted during the period of service, then his relatives receive compensation of 2 million rubles, which are distributed among all relatives entitled to compensation in equal shares.

If more than a year has passed between dismissal from service/training and the death of the now former employee, relatives do not receive compensation.

Concept of war trauma

An injury, which is considered military, is understood as causing damage to the health of a military personnel during the direct performance of his official duties while on duty. Its concept includes any damage inflicted on an employee in the form of injury, concussion or injury, as well as a disease caused by the service. The important thing here is that these injuries and illnesses were a consequence of the serviceman performing his duties. In particular:

The causes of bodily injury were the direct participation of:

• in combat operations;
• in military civil conflicts;
• in the elimination of gangster formations, both in the country and abroad;
• in protecting the state border of the Russian Federation at any time.

The causes of the disease were:

• poisoning by hazardous chemical substances, including penetrating radiation elements, rocket fuel components, radar radiation sources and other toxic and harmful materials;
• exacerbation of an illness that already existed in a serviceman before the start of military service, if it became a consequence of the performance of official duties.

Important! If the injury to health was caused while a serviceman was on duty for reasons not related to official duties (for example, a domestic injury, poisoning with low-quality products, viral and bacterial infection), then it does not apply to military injury.

Classification of harm groups

To adequately determine the amount and type of compensation, there is a classification, depending on the conditions of injury:

• injury received not due to the inaction of civilians or persons in the line of duty;
• injuries inflicted on a serviceman due to inconsistency in the actions of the state. structures;
• injuries received by representatives of the court, prosecutor's office and investigative bodies;
• harm caused to military personnel during their service;
• diseases developed due to work in areas of increased radiation contamination;
• disability after overseas service;
• damage caused during the declaration of a state of emergency in the country or at a military base, during an armed conflict or an operation to prevent terrorist attacks;
• infection with HIV or AIDS after surgery performed as part of the service;
• bites of animals and insects during service, causing illness;
• exacerbation of chronic diseases (already existing) during service.

What is meant by compensation for health damages for military injuries?

According to the law, damage to health caused to a military person must be compensated for by monetary compensation payments commensurate with the military injuries received. Such compensation is provided for by Federal Law No. 306 of November 7, 2011. The procedure for this compensation is determined by Chapter 59 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Important! The basis for assigning compensation in the form of a compensation payment for a military injury is the establishment of a connection between the performance of official duties and the injury received.

To establish this fact, on the basis of the “Regulations on military medical examination”, adopted by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 565 of 04.07. In 2013, a special expert commission was formed. Its tasks include not only establishing the connection between the injury and the service, but also the degree of damage to the body, including assigning a certain degree of disability. The list of diseases that give the right to assign a disability group to victims due to military trauma is defined in Article 19 of Federal Law No. 4468-1. The amount of monetary compensation and its type depend on the decision made by the commission.

Process of receiving compensation

There is a procedure regulated by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 70:

1. Receiving a referral to a medical commission conducted by a medical institution assigned to a given military unit.
2. A document with the results of the examination, an application for compensation, as well as an order for dismissal from the Armed Forces due to injury and inability to resume service must be sent to the medical organization.
3. Obtaining an expert decision after reviewing the documents. (5 working days).
4. The medical commission draws up a conclusion on the identified harm to health, where it indicates the assigned disability group and specifies the injury.
5. The received certificates are sent to the social protection authorities, which make a decision on the assignment of benefits or one-time compensation.

In addition to the medical order, when contacting the social security authority, you must prepare a package of documents:

• identification;
• military ID;
• confirmation of length of service (copy of work book or track record);
• conclusion of the medical commission;
• a certificate from the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation on the assignment of disability benefits;
• salary certificate for the last 12 months.

Verification of the provided data will take about 1-2 months from the date of submission. After this, compensation will be credited to the bank account specified in the application.

Types of compensation and its amount

If, as a result of the investigation by the commission, it turns out that a serviceman was seriously injured, leading to significant damage to his health, with the loss of his previous ability to perform the duties assigned to him, then under such circumstances he is assigned a disability and is subject to transfer to the reserve with mandatory compensation for lost health.

Payments to military personnel upon dismissal due to military injury are a measure of social support in view of their inability to continue serving due to lost health.

A dismissed serviceman is entitled to payments in the form of a one-time and monthly allowance, the amount of which depends on his status and the assigned disability group. He is also required to compensate for lost earnings due to incapacity in the form of a pension payment.

The amount of a one-time benefit assigned when employees are transferred to the reserve due to a serious deterioration in their health as a result of injury is:

The monthly benefit, depending on the disability group, is:

Compensation for employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

On January 30, 2015, the Federal Law on Amendments to Part 6 of Article 43 of the Law “On the Police” came into force. As a result of these changes, compensation for employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was cut , and now, after loss of ability to work as a result of a military injury, 100% of the monthly salary is compensated only for disabled people of group I.

Disabled people of group II will receive ½ salary , group III - 30% . Separate consideration is given to those employees who received disabilities and who were assigned compensation before the adoption of the amendment: their monthly compensation will not be reduced.

However, it will not increase until it becomes equal to the compensation to those to whom it was assigned according to the new standards.

A one-time compensation to employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is paid in the amount of two million rubles.

Disability pension amount

The amounts of pensions assigned to disabled people due to military injury are determined in Article 22 of Federal Law No. 4468-1 of February 12, 1993.

They are calculated as a percentage of the salary paid to the former military personnel monthly during his military activity. For each disabled person, the amount of allowance was calculated based on his official salary and increase in length of service. The size of the disability pension for different disability groups is:

According to Article 23 of this law, the minimum amount of the specified pensions for military personnel who have become disabled should not be less than the calculated amount of the pension specified in Article 46 of the law, and be:

If a serviceman, while on duty, suffers an injury or illness and dies, then the benefits due to him in the form of payments will be distributed equally among his closest relatives. To do this, they will have to confirm their relationship with the deceased or deceased person.

Important! Payments in connection with compensation for damage to health (one-time and monthly), as well as pensions, are subject to mandatory annual indexation by law.

Kinds

All types of military compensation can be divided into three categories:

1. Compensation for damage to physical health. In this case, the severity of the damage is taken into account.
2. Compensation for moral damage. Here, as in the previous case, the severity of the harm is taken into account.
3. Compensation for monetary losses. Experts take into account all treatment costs during the period when the employee lost his ability to work.

It is important to note that in order to receive financial compensation for a military person, the mere fact of an injury received at work is sufficient. This means that even if the employee did not suffer losses due to large discounts during treatment in the hospital, he still has the right to receive monetary compensation, since during the recovery period he could perform his duties, and he would be paid a salary for this if would not be an injury.

Procedure for processing compensation payments

To assign a lump sum payment to the injured person, the responsible employee of the unit in which the injured person served should contact the higher body of the RF Armed Forces with a package of documents including:

• Application from the injured military man, with his request for a one-time payment due in connection with dismissal due to injury;
• A certificate from the responsible person of the military unit confirming that the victim received a military injury during the performance of his duties;
• A copy of a medical report certified by management about his illness (or injury);
• A copy of the Order on the fact of expulsion of a military man from the unit.

The victim can send the documents himself if he is able to do so.

To assign monthly compensation payments, an employee recognized as disabled must submit an application to the government agency authorized to resolve social issues at his place of registration. The application should state a request for a monthly benefit, the specified amount of which must correspond to his disability group. You also need to provide your bank card (account) details.

The following is attached to the application:

• a copy of basic information from the passport;
• a copy of the report on disability and its group received in connection with a military injury;
• a certificate signed and stamped, issued by an authorized person, confirming the fact of injury during the performance of official duties, with a copy of the military ID attached to it;
• certificates from the pension authority confirming that the victim has received pension payments;
• other documents, if necessary (for example, on the appointment of a guardian).

The Constitutional Court emphasized the right of military personnel who continued to serve after being injured to additional benefits

On March 29, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation issued Resolution No. 16-P in the case of verifying the constitutionality of Part 6 of Art. 21 of the Law on Combating Terrorism and Part 15 of Art. 3 of the Law on monetary allowances for military personnel and provision of individual payments to them.

The courts upheld the refusal to pay benefits upon dismissal from military service

The reason for considering the case was a complaint from a former contract soldier, Evgeniy Ponkratov. In July 2013, during a counter-terrorism operation in the North Caucasus, he was seriously wounded, resulting in disability, and in October of the same year he was declared unfit for military service. In accordance with Part 3 of Art. 21 of the Law on Combating Terrorism, he was paid a one-time allowance of 300 thousand rubles.

In August 2014, a new 10-year contract was signed with Ponkratov, but in December 2021 he was dismissed from military service for health reasons on the basis of clause. "c" clause 1 art. 51 of the Law on Military Duty. At the same time, in the payment of a one-time benefit in the amount of 2 million rubles, established by clause 1, part 12, art. 3 of the Law on Monetary Allowances for Military Personnel, he was denied.

Considering his rights to be violated, the citizen filed a lawsuit in a military court to challenge the refusal to pay benefits, but the demands were denied. The court indicated that upon dismissal from military service for health reasons, the plaintiff did not have the right to the payment provided for by this provision of the Law on Monetary Allowances for Military Personnel, since he had previously received a one-time benefit under the Anti-Terrorism Law.

The appeal supported this position. In this case, the courts referred to paragraph 32 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of May 29, 2014 No. 8, which notes that if several grounds for such one-time benefits arise simultaneously, payment is made on one basis - at the choice of the recipient.

Having disagreed with the position of the courts, Evgeniy Ponkratov appealed to the Constitutional Court. In the complaint, he indicated that the contested norms of law prevent a person who became disabled as a result of a combat injury and continued military service after that, from receiving the difference between the amounts of benefits paid upon dismissal from service due to a military injury and paid immediately after receiving the injury.

Position of the Constitutional Court

Having examined the case materials, the Constitutional Court indicated that participation in counter-terrorism activities involves the performance of military service duties in special, extreme conditions associated with increased danger and significant risk for the serviceman. Participants in the fight against terrorism who have received a military injury resulting in the impossibility of performing their duties have the right to receive one-time benefits established for civil servants in a higher amount.

The contested legal provisions, the Court noted, do not contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation, allowing the mechanism of legal regulation of compensation for harm to exclude the repeated presentation of homogeneous social payments. At the same time, they do not prevent the appointment of payments that cannot be considered homogeneous in place and meaning, in particular, a one-time benefit.

At the same time, as stated in the resolution, the contested norms do not contain any indication of payments recognized as homogeneous in relation to lump-sum benefits. As a result, in practice, upon dismissal from military service of persons who have become disabled in the fight against terrorism, it is permitted to refuse to provide a one-time benefit, enshrined in paragraph 1 of Part 12 of Art. 3 of the Law on Monetary Allowances for Military Personnel, to those who previously received a one-time benefit established by Part 3 of Art. 21 of the Anti-Terrorism Law.

This, the highest court believes, prevents proper compensation for harm caused to the health of military personnel and their social protection, and leads to an unreasonable restriction of their right to social security. Thus, military personnel who participated in the fight against terrorism, when released from service for health reasons (due to a military injury), are placed in a worse position compared to other categories of military personnel.

Thus, the contested provisions do not comply with the Constitution to the extent that they exclude the possibility of providing the same person who received a military injury in the fight against terrorism, is disabled and declared unfit for military service, the specified one-time benefits.

In this regard, the Constitutional Court recognized the law enforcement decisions regarding the applicant as subject to review and indicated the need to make changes to the current legal regulation.

Dissenting opinion of the judge

The document also contains a special opinion of the Constitutional Court judge Sergei Kazantsev, in which he explained why he does not fully share the reasoning and some of the legal positions set out in the resolution.

The judge noted that the peculiarity of this case is that the grounds for receiving one-time benefits arose for the applicant not simultaneously, but sequentially, at different times: in 2014, he received the right only to a benefit of 300 thousand rubles, and the right to a benefit 2 million rubles arose in 2021 due to dismissal for health reasons.

It is emphasized that the payment of the first benefit to a person who has received injury and disability is not related to the fact of dismissal from military service for health reasons. This provision of the Anti-Terrorism Law does not exclude the right to receive this benefit if a person continues military service after being injured.

In this regard, Sergei Kazantsev pointed out, if a person who was injured and disabled during the fight against terrorism entered into a contract for further military service and was not dismissed, he should be paid a one-time allowance of 300 thousand rubles. After receiving such a benefit, the right to receive another lump sum benefit does not arise, which was recognized by the lower courts. At the same time, the judge drew attention to the fact that the applicant, unlike most military personnel who stop military service after being injured, at the time of acquiring the right to receive a one-time benefit of 300 thousand rubles. there was no right to choose the basis for receiving a benefit of 2 million rubles, since he continued to serve while disabled.

This approach of the courts, he pointed out, is based on the recognition of these types of one-time benefits as homogeneous in accordance with the Supreme Court Resolution No. 8. However, according to Sergei Kazantsev, it should be noted that an important condition for applying the principle of the inadmissibility of repeated provision of social payments that are homogeneous in their legal nature on different grounds is the simultaneity of the occurrence of the latter.

Comments from AG experts

Commenting on the position of the Constitutional Court, lawyer of the Civil Compensation Company Marina Somova noted that the resolution is intended to put an end to the confrontation between the military, who were deprived of the opportunity to continue serving, and the courts. “There were a lot of such disputes,” she explained. “I really hope that the resolution will become a fundamental document that clearly explains the application of certain articles of law in terms of calculating payments for injuries received during military service.”

The dissenting opinion of Judge Kazantsev, the lawyer believes, essentially complements the ruling, detailing certain aspects of the case, which, undoubtedly, should be accepted by the courts as legal assistance in resolving such disputes.

The expert added that lawyers had long been awaiting the adoption of this judicial act, since previous clarifications, including the Constitutional Court Resolution No. 15-P of May 19, 2014, did not answer all the questions that arise when considering similar cases.

According to Alexander Peredruk, a lawyer at the human rights NGO Soldiers' Mothers of St. Petersburg, a trainee lawyer at the St. Petersburg Administration, issues of social security for law enforcement officers and military personnel regularly arise in the orbit of constitutional justice, including from the point of view of the simultaneous receipt of social benefits. For example, in 2015, the Constitutional Court declared the provisions of the Police Law, which prohibited retired police officers from simultaneously receiving payments related to disability and also for length of service, to be unconstitutional (Resolution No. 1-P/2015).

In the case under consideration, the expert noted, the Constitutional Court followed its own practice on the need to take into account the legal nature and intended purpose of social payments. “Sergey Kazantsev rightly drew attention to an important condition for applying the principle of inadmissibility of repeated provision of social payments that are homogeneous in their legal nature on different grounds - the simultaneity of the occurrence of these grounds, thereby, in a sense, expanding the argument,” he explained.

In conclusion, Alexander Peredruk added that it is impossible not to agree that the state should proceed from considerations of the most complete compensation for harm caused to the health of a citizen during military service, which was actually confirmed by the Constitutional Court.

Lawyer of the Novgorod Region Administration Konstantin Markin believes that in this ruling the Constitutional Court went beyond the limits of a specific situation, and therefore the position of Sergei Kazantsev seems more correct. “A serviceman was injured (and disabled) during a counter-terrorism operation, as a result of which he was paid compensation for damage provided for in Part 3 of Art. 21 of the Anti-Terrorism Law. Subsequently, he continued his military service and after some time was dismissed for health reasons,” the expert explained. – In such a situation, he had the right to receive other compensation (one-time benefit) provided for in paragraph 1 of Part 12 of Art. 3 of the Law on Monetary Allowances for Military Personnel. It is paid upon dismissal from service due to a person being declared unfit for service as a result of a military injury - regardless of whether the injury was received as part of a counter-terrorism operation or not.”

The expert added that the applicant’s right to these compensations arose at different times and he was physically deprived of the opportunity to choose which one to receive. “That’s why he, after the courts of general jurisdiction refused to satisfy the demands, turned to the Constitutional Court,” noted Konstantin Markin. “However, the Court expanded the scope of possible situations and came to the conclusion that, in fact, in any situation the challenged legal provisions do not comply with the Constitution to the extent that they exclude the possibility of providing one and the same person from among the military personnel who received a military injury in the fight against terrorism, who is disabled and declared unfit for military service, the specified one-time benefits.”

For a citizen who has received such an injury, this approach of the Constitutional Court is, of course, preferable, Fr.

According to the lawyer, this resolution is also due to the spirit of the times. “Currently, the government supports military personnel, and the fight against terrorism is one of the primary tasks. Since there are not many similar situations now (and not everyone goes to court to protect their rights), the burden on the budget will not be too great for such payments,” he believes.

Konstantin Markin expressed hope that the courts, when resolving disputes over the payment of such benefits, will now be guided by this resolution. “But I do not rule out that they will also take into account the special opinion of Judge Kazantsev, who believes that it is possible to receive both benefits only if the right to them arises at different times,” he explained. – Therefore, before changes are made to legislative acts, judicial practice may develop in such a way that the courts will consider that in the event of injury (and disability) and recognition as unfit for military service with subsequent dismissal, a person has the right only to receive one of these two benefits ( optionally). It is difficult to say when changes will be made to the legislation. Hopefully relatively quickly."

Time limits for applying for compensation for health damage due to military injury

The list of diseases listed in Article 19 of Federal Law No. 4468-1 is adopted by an expert commission to assign disability to a serviceman within a certain period of time. By law, it must be determined within three months after the end of service.

Expert commentary

Gorchakov Vladimir

Lawyer

If the cause of disability is obvious, for example, it was obtained as a result of a wound or bodily injury received during service (burn, frostbite, etc.), the period for establishing disability is not limited.