Contribution Demand Decisions of the Compensation Fund - Restoration of the Suspensive Effect

Facts

In this case, it was about contribution demand decisions of the Compensation Fund of the Canton of St. Gallen against the company F. AG and its Chairman of the Board of Directors A. The Compensation Fund had obliged the company and A. to pay parity contributions (AHV/IV/EO/AlV/FAK) for the years 1978 to 1982 in the total amount of around 425,000 Swiss francs. In doing so, it relied on premium accounts of the Swiss Accident Insurance Institution (SUVA) and determined the difference to the already invoiced wage sums. The Compensation Fund withdrew the suspensive effect of the decisions based on Art. 97 para. 2 AHVG.

A. and the company F. AG contested the contribution demand decisions and requested the restoration of the suspensive effect. The Insurance Court of the Canton of St. Gallen restored the suspensive effect, as the immediate enforcement of the decisions would result in irreparable damage for both complainants.

The Compensation Fund then filed an administrative court appeal with the request to set aside the lower court decisions. It justified this by stating that the company and A. employed significantly more employees based on their activities than the obviously incorrect AHV accounts would indicate. The experiences with the company and A. had been decisive for the withdrawal of the suspensive effect.

Considerations

The Federal Court stated that in regulating the suspensive effect in administrative law, two conflicting interests must be weighed: on the one hand, the citizen's interest in the suspensive effect, and on the other hand, the public interest in the immediate enforcement of a decision.

With Art. 97 para. 2 AHVG, the legislator has enabled the Compensation Funds, in derogation of the principle that the suspensive effect of appeals against decisions obliging to a pecuniary benefit must not be withdrawn, to withdraw the suspensive effect of appeals against contribution decisions. The public interest in the immediate enforcement of the contribution decision is then given if, in view of the financial circumstances of the contribution debtor, the assumption of the risk of a contribution loss appears justified.

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