Facts

The appellant A., born 1957, without vocational training, had worked as a self-employed plasterer since 2001. On 18 June 2014 he registered with the Invalidity Insurance for benefits due to shoulder complaints. Following a fall down stairs on 30 September 2013, he suffered from restricted mobility and pain in both shoulders and was completely unable to work in his former occupation.

The IV-Stelle of the Canton of Zurich obtained the files of the Suva and examined the employment situation. On 12 March 2015 it considered occupational reintegration measures not possible for health reasons. By decision of 26 July 2016 it granted the insured person a full invalidity pension for the period from 1 December 2014 to 31 July 2015.

The Social Insurance Court of the Canton of Zurich dismissed the appeal by decision of 31 May 2018, insofar as it entered into the matter. Before the Federal Supreme Court the insured person requested the award of a pension beyond 31 July 2015, alternatively remittal for assessment and examination of occupational measures, and subsidiarily a quarter pension from 1 August 2015. The IV-Stelle requested dismissal. The Federal Office of Social Insurance waived a response.

The issue to be decided was whether, in the case of a retroactively time-limited and/or graduated pension award, the reasonableness of self-reintegration must be examined, and whether the termination of the pension from 1 August 2015 withstands federal law.

Considerations

For persons whose pension is to be reduced or terminated on revision, practice generally requires that reintegration measures be carried out first if they have reached the age of 55 or have received a pension for more than fifteen years. Self-reintegration is in principle considered unreasonable for these persons; exceptions exist for invalidity-unrelated absences from the labour market, particular agility and social integration, or broad training and professional experience. The IV-Stelle bears the burden of proof that the insured person can realise their earning potential through self-reintegration.

Federal Supreme Court case law has so far been inconsistent as to whether these principles also apply to a retroactively graduated or time-limited initial pension award. Some judgments affirmed this, others denied its application, on the ground that the rule aims at an existing pension entitlement.

The Federal Supreme Court rejects the negative view for insured persons who had already reached the age of 55 when they were awarded a pension with simultaneous (uno actu) graduation or termination. The retroactive award of a graduated or time-limited pension is governed by the same rules as the revision under Art. 17 para. 1 GSSLA. Different treatment depending on whether the award and revision occur at the same time is hardly justifiable; moreover, the constellation depends on the incidental length of the proceedings and is prone to arbitrariness.

In substance, the…