Partial Decision on Pension Claim as an Independently Appealable Decision

Facts

The complainant L. applied for benefits from the disability insurance on 29 October 2001. The IV office of Bern granted her a full pension as of 1 April 2003, a half pension as of 1 August 2003, and a quarter pension as of 1 March 2004, by decision of 2 June 2005. Upon appeal by the insured person, it set the start of the full pension to 1 November 2001 and acknowledged the claim for a supplementary pension for the spouse (decision of 1 November 2005). Against this, L. lodged a complaint with the request that the appeal decision be revoked insofar as it reduced the full pension with effect from 1 August 2003, and that the IV office be obliged to pay her a pension with an invalidity degree exceeding 66 2/3% even after 31 July 2003.

The Administrative Court of the Canton of Bern upheld the complaint insofar as it established that L. was entitled to a three-quarter pension for January and February 2004, and insofar as it revoked the reduction to a quarter pension ordered as of 1 March 2004, and referred the case back to the IV office for further clarification in the sense of the considerations and subsequent issuance of a new decision; otherwise, it dismissed the complaint.

Considerations

An appeal to the Federal Court is admissible against final decisions, i.e. decisions that conclude the proceedings (Art. 90 FSCA), and against partial decisions that only deal with part of the requests made, if these can be judged independently of the others, or that conclude the proceedings only for part of the joint parties (Art. 91 FSCA).

The distinction between partial and interim decisions is made at the level of the subject matter of the dispute: the decisive factor is whether the decision deals with a request that can be judged independently of others (Art. 91 lit. a FSCA), i.e. could also have been the subject of separate proceedings. In the context of ongoing legal relationships, it is generally possible, subject to the reservation…