If the social insurance institution refuses your claim in an administrative decision – for example on an old-age, invalidity or incapacity pension, long-term care allowance or rehabilitation benefit – you can bring a court action before the Labour and Social Court. The court reassesses your entitlement to the benefit completely afresh. The time limit is crucial: you must file the court action within 3 months of service, and this time limit cannot be extended. Under the Labour and Social Courts Act (ASGG), no court fees are generally charged in social security cases.
What this is about: disputes with social insurance institutions
When a social insurance institution refuses an application, it often hits people who are already in a difficult situation – with health problems, for example, or when approaching retirement. If you receive a decision refusing your claim, you are not powerless: you can challenge decisions of a social insurance institution by bringing a court action before the Labour and Social Court.
Typical disputes in social security and pension law:
- Pension (old-age pension): refused, or calculated at a lower amount than expected (insurance periods, amount);
- Invalidity pension / incapacity pension: refused because the insurer does not accept that your capacity to work is sufficiently reduced;
- Care allowance: refused, or the care allowance level is too low;
- Rehabilitation benefit: refused or granted only for a limited period.
In all these cases, the outcome is an administrative decision – and the way to challenge that decision is a court action.
The decision and the court action against it
The social insurance institution – for example the Pension Insurance Institution (PVA) – decides on your application in a written administrative decision. If it refuses your application, or grants a lower benefit than you applied for, you can challenge the decision with a court action. In social security law there is no ‘appeal’ against the decision – the remedy is a court action before the Labour and Social Court.
Important: once you bring a court action in time, the decision ceases to have effect, and the court decides on your entitlement to the benefit completely afresh. The court does not merely check whether the decision was ‘formally correct’ – it reassesses your claim in full.
Proceedings at the Labour and Social Court
The proceedings are governed by the Labour and Social Courts Act (ASGG). For people in Vienna, the court of first instance is the Vienna Labour and Social Court (ASG Wien).
Social security proceedings are deliberately designed with insured people in mind: they are meant to make it easier to go to court. One point in particular reassures many people:
Your own costs – for example for legal representation – are a separate matter. We will tell you openly, before we start, what costs your case will involve.
The process & medical expert reports
With invalidity pensions, incapacity pensions and care allowance in particular, the dispute almost always turns on medical questions: How far is your capacity to work reduced? What work can you still reasonably be expected to do? How much care do you need?
The court does not decide these questions itself. Instead, it refers them to court-appointed experts (for example in orthopaedics, neurology, psychiatry or internal medicine). They prepare expert reports, and the court bases its decision on them. The typical process:
- 1. Court action: filed with the ASG Wien within the 3-month time limit.
- 2. Medical assessment: the court orders medical examinations and expert reports.
- 3. Comments: the expert reports are served on the parties – at this stage it is often crucial to raise well-founded objections (for example by submitting your own medical findings).
- 4. Hearing & judgment: the court decides on your entitlement to the benefit.
Because the expert reports largely determine the outcome, it pays to submit all relevant medical findings in full and to have the expert reports critically reviewed.
How we help
We support you calmly, clearly and with a close eye on deadlines in social security and pension proceedings – from the first review of the decision to representing you before the Vienna Labour and Social Court. We start by checking the date of service and the time limit that is running. We assess your prospects of success openly and support you through the medical assessment process. If you have received a decision refusing your claim, do not wait until the time limit runs out.
Contact: Teamanwälte, Mag. Johannes Bügler · Baumgartenstraße 82, 1140 Vienna · Phone +43 1 419 13 18 · office@teamanwaelte.at. Book an appointment soon – the 3-month time limit runs from the date the decision is served on you.
For an overview of the whole area, see our page on Employment & social security law. Related topics: Challenging a termination and Severance pay.
Note: This page provides general information and does not replace legal advice on your specific case. The time limits and details given (in particular the 3-month time limit and the exemption from court fees) need to be checked for each individual case. No guarantee of success can be given. For a binding assessment of your situation, please book a personal consultation.