Facts
The complainant, a German national born in September 1960, has lived in Switzerland since July 2006 and has been receiving an early old-age pension from the Liechtenstein Old Age and Survivors' Insurance from 1 October 2020 and an old-age pension from the pension fund for lawyers in the State of Hesse from 1 November 2020. In October 2020, he applied to the Social Contributions Office of the Canton of Basel-Stadt for supplementary benefits (SBA) and cantonal allowances in respect of the old-age pensions received. By decision of 19 January 2021 and by the appeal decision of 18 February 2021, the Office rejected the eligibility requirements.
The complainant filed an appeal with the Social Insurance Court of the Canton of Basel-Stadt, which dismissed it by judgment of 2 November 2021. The complainant then filed an appeal in public law matters with the Federal Supreme Court, seeking the annulment of the cantonal court's judgment and the decisions of the lower instances and the award of SBA from 1 October 2020. In the alternative, he requested that the matter be referred back to the cantonal court or the administration for a new assessment.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court first examined its jurisdiction over the appeal concerning SBA under Article 3(1) SBA and confirmed that the IInd Social Law Division is competent for such cases, even if cantonal SBA are involved. It dismissed the complainant's late submissions as inadmissible and recalled that the Federal Supreme Court applies the law ex officio but only examines the legal defects alleged. It also based its decision on the facts established by the lower court, as there were no obvious errors.
The central issue was the entitlement to SBA from 1 October 2020. The Federal Supreme Court recalled that persons with their domicile and habitual residence in Switzerland are entitled to SBA if they receive an old-age pension from the OASIA (Article 4(1)(a) SBA). For men, entitlement to a Swiss OASIA old-age pension requires reaching the age of 65 (Article 21(1)(a) and Article 40(1) OASIA). At the time of the appeal decision (18 February 2021), the complainant had only reached around 60.5 years of age and thus did not meet the eligibility requirements for a Swiss OASIA old-age pension.
The complainant argued that foreign old-age pensions could satisfy the requirements of Article 4(1)(a) SBA. The Federal Supreme Court generally confirmed this but clarified that entitlement to SBA in respect of a foreign old-age pension also requires reaching the Swiss retirement age under the OASIA. This follows from the circular of the INO and the guidelines of the INO on SBA. The court rejected an exception for Liechtenstein old-age pensions, as the Agreement between Switzerland and Liechtenstein (SR…