Years-of-service pension after long work history that requires great effort

You may qualify for the years-of-service pension if:

  • you have done work that requires great mental or physical effort for at least 38 years;
  • your ability to work is reduced;
  • you are 63 years or older.

The years-of-service pension is a type of disability pension, but your ability to work does not have to be as reduced as it does for a disability pension.

Your 38-year work history may also include periods of the daily allowances for parents for a maximum of three years. In addition, shorter breaks in work or self-employment due to illness or lay-offs, as well as temporary unemployment, may be included in the 38-year work history.

Are you about to claim a years-of-service pension? Read the instructions on how to claim the pension and send in your claim

Attach medical statement to your application

Your years-of-service pension is the same amount as the pension that you have earned by the time that you start getting pension payments. Your own earnings-related pension provider can give you an estimate of how much your years-of-service pension would be.

You can ask for a preliminary decision about your right to a years-of-service pension and make your final decision about retirement only once youy have received the preliminary decision. The decision is valid for six months. If your work that requires great mental or physical effort has ended, you must claim the years-of-service pension within one year from the date on which your work ended. 

Apply for the years-of-service pension with the years-of-service pension application form. Attach the following documents to your application:

  • Medical Statement B
  • your employer’s description of your work

Medical Statement B is to be filled in by the occupational healthcare at your workplace. It must outline your health status, what kind of tasks you do, and how strenuous and wearing your work is/has been.

If you get a years-of-service pension, you can also work and earn up to €976.59 (at 2024 level) a month.

What kind of work requires great mental or physical effort?

To qualify for the years-of-service pension, your work must have required significant mental or physical effort on your part. You work must have included one or several of the following factors:

  1. work movements which have required great muscular strength or which have put a long-term strain on your muscles;
  2. a particularly heavy strain on your respiratory and blood-vascular systems;
  3. stressing and difficult working positions;
  4. repetitive movements which require strength or speed, or work movements in which you have to squeeze your hands, twist your body and use strength at the same time;
  5. interactive work which is particularly demanding and requires an exceptional mental effort; and
  6. work that requires you to be constantly on guard or particularly watchful and which involves high risks, or in which the threat of violence is marked.

When it is assessed whether your work requires great mental or physical effort, exceptional physical factors relating to your work tasks are considered:

  • the use of protection equipment that adds to the strain of the work,
  • repeated night work or otherwise stressful work in shifts; and
  • repeated long work shifts.

The joint effect of the factors listed above are taken into account when assessing how much mental or physical stress your work requires.

In addition to doing work that requires great mental or physical effort, your chances  to continue in your work must be considerably reduced. Although the years-of-service pension is a type of disability pension,  your ability to work does not have to be as reduced as it does for a disability pension.