Former MSEC employees are filing a lawsuit: why they mentioned the debts only now

Last year, the country ended with loud "MSEC scandals". There were days when they pushed even the topic of war out of the news feeds. The most prominent was the former chief doctor of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Medical and Social Expertise Center, Tetyana Krupa: security forces found kilograms of foreign currency in her apartment, the origin of which has been under investigation for the fifth month.

This is reported by "Glavcom".

Under such circumstances, the country’s leadership unexpectedly resorted to extreme measures – the institution of medical and social expert commissions was liquidated. However, some former employees of the MSECs decided not to give up; they are still fighting "for their own".

A striking example is the Vinnytsia region. As of the beginning of spring 2025, 11 employees of the liquidated MSECs went to court to take revenge on the state. Doctors and nurses are seeking the return of unpaid wages... for 2022! The answer to the question of why the medics were silent for two years and only now remembered the debt was given by nurse Halyna Kachan. The woman who worked at the regional MSEC No. 2 explained to the journalists: "When the MSECs began to be disbanded, the doctors and nurses went to court for unpaid wages. I also filed a relevant lawsuit. At that time, it was already known that the chief doctor had won the case."

That "chief doctor" turned out to be the therapist of the regional MSEC No. 1, Viktor Vlasyuk. Last year, the media dedicated a large investigation to this doctor’s activities "Kings and Queens of MSEC. How the "Vinnytsia disability factory" worked." Vlasyuk led the main Vinnytsia Regional Medical and Social Expertise Center for more than ten years. He was also a long-term head of the regional MSEC No. 1, the top commission through which disability groups were issued even to the top officials of Vinnytsia during different times.

On December 10, 2024, the former chief of MSEC won a case against the native Vinnytsia Regional Medical and Social Expertise Center. According to the decision of the Vinnytsia court, Viktor Vlasyuk was not paid an increased salary, which the Cabinet of Ministers approved from January 1, 2022. This "injustice" lasted for over a year (until mid-March 2023), and according to the plaintiff’s calculations, he was shorted 105.1 thousand UAH in salary. The court decided that the plaintiff would be paid money, but only for six months of 2022.

At the end of February this year, the appeals court also sided with the influential "MSEC worker". Such success inspired other colleagues of Vlasyuk; the medics of the former MSECs went to the courts.

"Well, tell me, how can someone live normally on a pension of 4 thousand UAH?"

Following Vlasyuk’s path also went the former head of the Haisyn Interdistrict MSEC of the Vinnytsia region, Inna Khymeryk. Her claim was filed on January 7 this year. And by February 28, the medic was celebrating victory. When asked by journalists why she had no claims against the employer for the long two years and didn’t demand extra payments, the former head of the MSEC could not answer. Below is the dialogue with the journalist.

– I was told to file a lawsuit, – reluctantly explains Inna Khymeryk.

– Who exactly? – the journalist tries to get the uncommunicative doctor to talk.

– What does it matter? I will not comment on this, – the interlocutor stuck to her line.

– Was it Viktor Vlasyuk or someone else? – the journalist had to use "trump cards".

– No, I did not discuss this topic with Vlasyuk... Overall, I contemplated whether to file a lawsuit or not. I just wanted to try. Indeed, at that time (2022 – media) we were not paid the entire salary. Accordingly, now I receive a completely different pension than I could have had. Well, tell me, how can one live normally with a pension of 4 thousand UAH a month? These were my motives, – the plaintiff confessed.

The electronic declaration of Inna Khymeryk for 2024 indicates that the doctor received a total income of 317 thousand UAH. Of these, 248.6 thousand UAH was salary, and 51.5 thousand UAH was a pension.

The aforementioned nurse Halyna Kachan also managed to succeed in court in the first instance. "In 2022, I received 6-7 thousand UAH, while nurses in hospitals were paid 13 thousand UAH a month," the interlocutor recalled the grievance.

But when asked for clarification by journalists about the amount the nurse is trying to claim through the court, Halyna Kachan could not provide a concrete answer.

On the last day of 2024, a lawsuit came to the Vinnytsia City Court from therapist Dmytro Marusyak. The man worked at Vinnytsia City MSEC No. 2. Like Vlasyuk, Khymeryk, and Kachan, he had financial claims against the regional medical and social expertise center. Yet in the end, he for some reason changed his mind about continuing to litigate and asked the court to dismiss the claim without consideration.

Journalists talked to Dmytro Marusyak, and the doctor made a surprising statement: "After filing the lawsuit, I got acquainted with some materials. Considering what is happening right now (probably, the doctor meant the war – media), I thought I could do without this money. Let this money be directed to better purposes."

Government Arithmetic

Now, actually, about the money that so concerns the MSEC doctors of the Vinnytsia region. On January 12, 2022, the Shmyhal government adopted a resolution regarding certain issues of remuneration for medical workers at health care institutions. The document stipulated that the salary of doctors is raised to 20 thousand UAH, and medical sisters – to 13.5 thousand UAH per month. These changes concerned health care institutions of state and communal ownership.

If not to go into details, then the MSEC doctors of Vinnytsia, who were subordinated to the regional medical and social expertise center of the Vinnytsia Regional Council, evidently also had the right to increased salaries. In January 2025, journalists sent a request to the head of the regional council, Vyacheslav Sokolovyi, asking to clarify whether the government resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers applied to the MSEC doctors; where the regional budget would get funds for compensating doctor Vlasyuk, who won the case. However, the leadership of that regional council shied away from uncomfortable questions and redirected the request to the Vinnytsia Regional Military Administration.

It was "the entire leadership of Vinnytsia” responding on behalf by the director of the Department of Health and Rehabilitation of the RMA, Olha Zadorozhna. Her response indicates that throughout 2022, the Vinnytsia Regional Medical and Social Expertise Center did not have a license for medical practice.

“Therefore, taking into account the clarifications of the Ministry of Health dated January 28, 2022, there were no grounds for applying the provisions of the Cabinet of Ministers resolution of January 12, 2022, No. 2 "Certain Issues of Remuneration of Medical Workers of Health Care Institutions" to the Vinnytsia Regional Medical and Social Expertise Center in 2022,” says the response of the head of the department of the Vinnytsia RMA to the journalists’ request.

Only from March 15, 2023, did doctors and nurses of the MSECs of Vinnytsia begin to receive salaries based on the new calculations, applying the aforementioned resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers. This is due to the fact that the regional medical and social expertise center received a new license. The additional financial resources for payments were attracted by the regional council through the regional budget and a subvention from the state budget.

In a comment to journalists, a representative of the commission on the reorganization of the Vinnytsia Regional Medical and Social Expertise Center and the head of the department of health and rehabilitation of the RMA, Vitaliy Poprotskyi, noted: the regional authorities do not agree with the decisions of the lower courts, where the MSEC workers won, and promise to prove their position on appeal. As for the lawsuit of Viktor Vlasyuk, who won against the RMA in the appellate court, this decision will be appealed in the Supreme Court.

“In 2024, the courts did not involve the regional military administration, which during the war manages the budget, as a party to the process. And this is a mistake. In the Vlasyuk case, the then-head of the regional center for medical and social expertise, Yuliya Danylenko, relied on the court’s decision (instead of presenting convincing arguments – media). I’ll say more – the authorities didn’t even know about the decision in the Vlasyuk case (meaning the decision of the Vinnytsia City Court of December 10, 2024, which obliged the regional center for medical and social expertise to recalculate and pay Viktor Vlasyuk the difference in salary for the period from January 1, 2022, to July 19, 2022 – media)", Poprotskyi noted.

The lawyer drew attention: all the claims of the liquidated MSEC employees regarding unpaid wages for 2022 are identical. Who is behind this, Poprotskyi doesn’t know.

Finally, an interesting observation. On the same day, January 27, 2025, two events occurred: a representative of the Vinnytsia RMA, Olha Zadorozhna, responded to a journalists’ request, and on the same day, the first public reaction from the regional military administration regarding the "salary" counteroffensive of the MSEC doctors. It seems without journalists bringing this story to the public, this might not have happened...

Author: Vitaliy Taranenko