Retired Pharmacist’s Legal Fight to Have Her Suspended Pension Reinstated

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March 16, 2022 | By a Minghui correspondent in Jiangxi Province, China

(Minghui.org) One year after Ms. Ge Ling finished serving four years for her faith in Falun Gong, the local social security bureau in Yongxiu County, Jiangxi Province suspended the retired pharmacist’s pension and ordered her to pay back the 270,741 yuan of retirement benefits issued to her from October 2014 to April 2021.

Ms. Ge wrote several letters to various government agencies to seek justice but to no avail. She then filed an administrative lawsuit against the local social security bureau with the Chaisang District Court. But only one month after the court accepted the case, it dismissed it, with the excuse that her case wasn’t qualified for administrative litigation. Ms. Ge is now appealing with the higher court, seeking to overturn the lower court’s ruling.

Ms. Ge Ling

Suspended Pension and a Nearly 300K Yuan Bill

Since the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Ge, 71, has served two labor camp terms totaling five years and two prison terms totaling seven years. Her latest arrest took place on April 21, 2016, and was followed by a four-year prison term. She suffered relentless torture in prison and had a leg amputated as a result.

On April 20, 2021, one year after Ms. Ge was released, the local Yongxiu County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau informed her former employer, the Yongxiu County Chinese Medicine Hospital, that they were going to suspend her pension and medical insurance, as well as seeking the return of the 270,741 yuan in pension funds issued to her from October 2014 to April 2021.

The social security bureau cited a policy saying that Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned for their faith are not entitled to pension funds while serving time. As such, they ordered her to pay back the pension for the seven-year period prior to the suspension.

On December 8, the social security bureau delivered two formal notices to Ms. Ge in person, chasing her for the 270,741 yuan.

One of the notices, “Yongxiu County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau Investigation Inquiry Notice,” stated that the authorities “found out that Ge Ling was overpaid her pension while she served time in prison....and needs to return the 270,741 yuan she received between October 2014 and April 2021.”

The other notice, “Yongxiu County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau Order to Correct the Order Within a Time Limit,” accused Ms. Ge of violating the Regulation to Punish Embezzlement and Defrauding Social Insurance Funds. It ordered Ms. Ge to return the money she owed by December 14, 2021, threatening that if she didn’t, she would be fined “two to five times the amount she owed based on China’s Insurance Law.” It then ordered her family to make sure the money was paid back in seven days or the bureau would “start the judicial procedures and transfer the case to the judicial organs.”

Administrative Complaint Against the Social Security Bureau

Ms. Ge wrote to several government agencies, trying to explain that the notices didn’t have any legal basis, but to no avail. She then borrowed money to hire a lawyer and filed an administrative complaint against the social security bureau in early January 2022. She demanded the bureau withdraw both notices, return her suspended pension (3,771.10 yuan/month), and cover the legal fee.

Ms. Ge explained in her complaint that she retired at the age of 50 (legal retirement age in China) in March 2001. According to Articles 44 and 45 of the Chinese “Constitution,” Articles 10 and 16 of the “Social Insurance Law,” Articles 72 and 73 of the Labor Law, Article 34 of the “Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of the Elderly,” Articles 80 and 82 of the “Legislative Law” and Article 6 of the “Opinions of the State Council on Establishing a Unified Basic Endowment Insurance System for Urban and Rural Residents,” it’s her most basic right to receive a full, lifetime retirement pension.

She added that the bureau wrongfully cited the provisions of Article 9 (5) of the “Measures of Jiangxi Province to Investigate and Punish the Acts of Embezzlement and Fraudulently Obtaining Social Insurance Funds” in ordering her to return the pension.

The bureau claimed that she covered up her prison terms in order to continue receiving the pension. She refuted that she never hid the information to anyone and the accusation itself was false.

Additionally, the above document was written by the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security on January 11, 2018, and was only valid for two years. Since the department didn’t publish an updated version before it expired, the document was invalid in the first place.

The “Yongxiu County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau Investigation Inquiry Notice” only had the signature of one person, not the required two signatures, which further rendered the notice itself invalid.

Ms. Ge emphasized that the Yongxiu County Chinese Medicine Hospital she worked at has always acknowledged her as a retired employee and never removed her from the retiree's roster. While the hospital couldn’t stop the social security bureau from suspending Ms. Ge’s pension (although the bureau was only supposed to manage the retirement fund for the hospital), they have agreed to give her 500 yuan each month since November 16, 2021, to cover part of her basic living cost.

Notice Withdrawn

Ms. Ge was informed by the Chaisang District Court around January 20, 2022, that her complaint has been accepted.

Two directors from the social security bureau, a lawyer and a residential committee director came to Ms. Ge’s home on February 8, delivering the decision to withdraw the “Yongxiu County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau Order to Correct the Order Within a Time Limit.”

The officials attempted to take photos of Ms. Ge as she took the withdrawal decision, but she didn’t let them. They hinted for her to withdraw her complaint in return.

She replied that it was fine for her to withdraw the complaint, but they had to reinstate her pension and not order her to pay back the nearly 300,000 yuan previous pension in the first place. A director surnamed Du said to her, “While we took back one of the notices, it’s still up to the judge to make the ruling [regarding her requests].”

Complaint Rejected

Nine days later, on February 17, the court informed Ms. Ge that they decided to dismiss her case. The judge wrote in the decision that the “Investigation Inquiry Notice” didn’t generate a solid impact on Ms. Ge, so her complaint didn’t fall into the scope of administrative litigation and wasn’t qualified to be accepted.

Ms. Ge appealed with the Jiujiang City Intermediate Court in early March 2022, demanding that the higher court overturn the lower court’s decision and order the bureau to cover her legal fee.

In “Yongxiu County Human Resources and Social Security Bureau Investigation Inquiry Notice,” it stated that the authorities found out that, “Ge Ling was overpaid her pension while she served time in prison....and needs to return the 270,741 yuan she received between October 2014 and April 2021. Please go to Yongxiu County Social Security Management Center to pay the required amount within 7 days after receiving this legal document, and bring the following materials: (1) Receipt of pension benefit card; (2) ID card or a copy of the household registration book.”

Ms. Ge argued that the notice was an obvious legal document with clear binding content on specific issues and a direct impact on her, and not as what the first instance court claimed to be a “procedural action.”

She added that the first instance court had violated the legal procedure themselves in ruling her case, including not informing her of the member composition of collegiate bench, not having an open hearing of the case or ever consulting her or her lawyer before making the decision.

Ms. Ge Ling, a Pharmacist at the Yongxiu County Chinese Medicine Hospital in Jiangxi Province, Is on the Brink of Death from Persecution

Pharmacist Imprisoned Again for Her Faith, Denied Family Visits