Facts
S. (born in 1939) was employed as a stamper at C. AG from January 1, 1977 and was insured under the company's occupational pension scheme. On August 25, 1994, she terminated her employment effective the end of November 1994 in order to obtain a lump-sum payment of her vested benefits of CHF 107,322.50. Subsequently, S. applied for unemployment compensation as of December 1, 1994. The Unemployment Insurance Fund of the Canton of Lucerne rejected her claim for unemployment compensation due to non-fulfillment of the contribution period.
The Administrative Court of the Canton of Lucerne dismissed S.'s appeal against this decision. S. then filed an administrative court appeal with the Federal Insurance Court.
Considerations
The Federal Insurance Court stated that S. is to be considered "retired" since she terminated her employment in order to obtain an early payout of her pension assets. However, this circumstance does not fundamentally preclude the entitlement to unemployment compensation.
According to Art. 12 para. 1 AVIV, a special regulation applies for persons who are retired before reaching the AHV retirement age but still wish to be employed as employees. Accordingly, only the insured employment exercised after retirement is credited as contribution periods.
Since S. has been unemployed since her termination and receives old-age benefits that exceed 80% of her last insured earnings, she does not fulfill the exceptions of Art. 12 para. 2 AVIV. Consequently, the administration rightly denied the entitlement to unemployment compensation…