Facts
A., born in 1966, was employed as an adjuster at the company B. GmbH from 2003 to December 23, 2008. From mid-September 2008, she was on sick leave, but was dismissed without notice on December 23, 2008 due to an unreported stay abroad. On February 11, 2009, she applied for a disability pension with the Disability Insurance (IV) and reported depression, dizziness, shortness of breath, and headaches. The IV office of the Canton of St. Gallen rejected the application for a disability pension by preliminary decision of July 20, 2011 and decision of October 26, 2011, as there was no disabling health impairment.
The Insurance Court of the Canton of St. Gallen upheld the appeal against the decision and awarded A. a full disability pension with effect from September 1, 2009 and a quarter pension from January 1, 2010. The IV office then filed an appeal in public law matters with the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court upholds the appeal of the IV office. It finds that the lower court has misunderstood the division of tasks between the law-applying authority and the examining medical professional in assessing the incapacity for work as the basis for the entitlement to a disability pension.
According to the case law of the Federal Supreme Court, it is not solely the responsibility of medical professionals to decide conclusively and bindingly whether a medically established condition leads to incapacity for work. Rather, it is the responsibility of the law-applying authority to evaluate the medical information in the individual case and to assess which work performances can still be expected of the person.
In the present case, the lower court, without further examination, assumed a complete incapacity for work due to depression based solely on the medical…