Facts
S., born in 1954, worked as a warehouse worker for the company X. SA from April 1, 1988 to April 30, 1990. In this capacity, she was affiliated with the Collective Foundation LPP of the Rentenanstalt (hereinafter: the Foundation).
By decision of December 4, 1997, the Disability Insurance Office for the canton of Vaud rejected a pension application filed on June 29, 1995 by the insured person. Seized of an appeal against this decision, the Insurance Court of the canton of Vaud, by judgment of January 4, 2000, recognized the insured person's right to a full disability pension from June 1, 1994.
On August 23, 2000, the insured person requested the granting of a disability pension from the Foundation. The latter rejected this request, on the grounds that the right to the disability pension had arisen long after the dissolution of the pension relationship.
Considerations
According to the case law rendered under the former Art. 41 OPA, the solution enshrined in this provision, which is directly inspired by Arts. 127 and 128 CO, has the result, in the case of a disability pension, that each annuity is prescribed by five years from the due date of the claim in application of Art. 130 para. 1 CO, while the right to receive the pensions as such, which does not have a periodic character, is prescribed within the ordinary period of ten years from the due date of the first unpaid installment, in accordance with Art. 131 para. 1 CO.
The due date of an occupational pension benefit is at the time the right to such benefit arises according to the applicable legal and regulatory provisions. Pursuant to Art. 26 para. 1 OPA, the provisions of the Federal Law of June 19, 1959 on Disability Insurance (Art. 29 DIA) apply by analogy to the birth of the right to disability benefits.
The Federal Tribunal considers that…