Facts
The applicant, born in 1962, worked as a cleaning employee for various employers. In traffic accidents in October 1997 and December 2000, she suffered a distortion of the cervical spine. In February 2002, she applied for disability insurance benefits. After investigation, the IV Office of Lucerne refused a pension, considering that there was no health damage with an effect on the ability to work. On appeal by the applicant, the Administrative Court of the Canton of Lucerne annulled this decision and ordered the payment of a full pension from December 1, 2001 to March 31, 2005, and then a quarter pension from April 1, 2005. The IV Office appealed against this decision.Considerations
According to case law, an injury to the cervical spine and head sustained in an accident can lead to persistent complaints that impair the ability to work and earn, even in the absence of an objectively verifiable functional deficit. Such injuries are characterized by a complex and multidimensional clinical picture of closely intertwined physical and psychological complaints. These principles developed for compulsory accident insurance also apply to disability insurance. However, the absence of organic findings does not allow for a direct conclusion of an intact ability to work. Disability is assessed according to Arts. 7 and 8 GSSLA and the related case law, in particular on persistent somatoform pain disorders. This requires that the indications of pain be sufficiently explainable by conclusive medical findings, failing which an equal assessment of the entitlement to a pension is not guaranteed. As a rule, such…