The Legislative Council reveals to Safa the new amendments to the pension law and its benefits

Gaza – Fadl Matar Safa

The Legislative Council has revealed new amendments to the pension insurance law for 2022 and its benefits that serve employees from different sectors.

Director of the Department of Legal and Legislative Affairs and Research of the Council, Amjad Al-Agha, said during a media interview given by the Safa agency on Monday that the new amendments to the Pension Law no. 7 from 2005, the first year since its adoption and that they will be implemented in the middle of this month.

Al-Agha clarified that this period is sufficient for changes to the law, especially with the introduction of many facts and procedures, indicating that these reasons created a kind of legislation to make changes to certain articles of the law.

He also indicated that the amendment does not only target government employees; Instead, it targets all parties who want to join the “pension system”, such as universities, federations, unions and institutions. Emphasizing that the amendments used the term “operator and subscriber”, whether the operator is the state or the private sector, and the subscriber is considered an employee.

Among the objectives of amending the Pension Act no. 7 of 2005, according to al-Agha, is to reduce the legislative gap with the West Bank provinces, in addition to the presence of arithmetic errors in some retirement tables of the old law, emphasizing that the amendment to the new law is almost 99% identical to the West Bank retirement system.

It is important to note that the Retirement Act no. 7 of 2005 was subject to less than 5 amendments in the West Bank provinces. Legal decrees or presidential decrees and legal decrees.

Editing privileges

Al-Agha explained that employees who have years of service before the date of September 1, 2006 will have their years of actual service added to them to work at the same rate of pension they receive.

Among the privileges of the amended law – according to al-Agha – is that it ended the employee’s pension, so that it does not exceed 80% of the salary, with a minimum of 30%, “thus preserving the employee’s right.”

Also among the allowances, the so-called “personal allowance” of 300 shekels was added to the pension, formerly called the “President’s Grant”.

He said: “Under the amended law, the years of service will be multiplied by 2% for the average salary of the last 3 years, and 300 shekels will be added to that.

Al-Agha explained that this increase did not exist in the old law, and that an allowance of 60 shekels was added to the wife who “does not work”, and 20 shekels was added to each son under the age of 18.

The employee will also be charged for the secondment period, sick leave, unpaid leave and study leave that can be used by him.

An important addition to the amended law is the issue of the “deceased worker”, because according to the old law, an employee’s pension is terminated immediately after his death until his situation is resolved with insurance and pension, which takes 3 months.

Since with the new amendments the salary of the deceased worker will continue to be paid for 3 months; Until the legal situation is resolved, the government or the employer will provide an amount of at least 5 thousand shekels for “non-refundable” expenses and funeral expenses for the employee, which will be given to those who covered the funeral expenses.

The new amendment also included the inclusion of the years of imprisonment in the length of service for an employee, because the old law from 2005 counted only the length of service in the PLO.

The amendment also included a feature that did not exist in the old law, or even the amendments that occurred in West Coast governorships. It is a calculation of the years of fixed-term contracts with the government.

Also among the amendments: a “widowed husband” whose wife dies. According to the old law, this husband who is medically disabled is entitled to his wife’s pension. With the new amendment, the widowed husband is entitled if he is medically disabled or poor and has a limited income.

One of the advantages of the amendment to the new pension law is the collection of the spouse’s salary, if they are retired spouses under the old law. one of them may benefit from a pension, while the other is denied it; While, according to the new amendment, both spouses receive their salary separately.

Retired types

Retirement has several types, including mandatory and optional, and the latter includes parts: “old age pension and early voluntary retirement”.

Al-Agha explained that the state or the employer has the right, through mandatory retirement, to retire an employee who has 15 years of service, and there are real reasons and justifications for this.

It is important to note that the benefits of this pension, according to the new amendment, include “calculation of full years of pension with a compensation of not less than 10%, while this compensation is only available in Gaza, except for the West Bank governorate.”

The second type – according to Al-Agha – is voluntary retirement, and it has two parts, “old age pension”, which is retirement for an employee who reaches the age of 55 and 20 years of service, as treated. as if he retired at 60 and gets the same privileges.

As for early voluntary retirement, this pension can be obtained by any employee who has reached the age of 50 and has 15 years of service. The condition of medical incapacity, while – according to the old law, retirement took place at the age of 45.

Al-Agha pointed out that according to the old law, the pension salary was reduced by 4 percent until reaching the age of sixty, but today, according to the new amendment, the employee was fair because the salary is reduced by only 2% until he reaches the age of sixty, and this only exists in It treads and cannot be applied on the West Coast.

Act according to the law

Al-Agha emphasized that the amendment of the new pension law is the result of joint cooperation between the government and the legislative council, which lasted for a year, since the government presented the draft amendments to the pension law from 2005 and passed the workshops. and meetings with financial studies until they are agreed.

He explained that new amendments to the law have been sent for publication, and as soon as they are published in the Official Gazette, they will enter into force, noting that they will be implemented in the middle of this month.

It is important to note that there is a general pension administration in the Ministry of Finance in Gaza, to which Gaza employees appointed after 2006 are subject, whose pension funds are deducted from the ministry and stored within the administration.

Al-Agha explained that there are institutions that want to be subject to the law of the Insurance, Pensions and Pensions Authority under the Ministry of Finance in Gaza, stressing that it is an optional and discretionary matter of the institution, and it is mandatory for civil servants.

“The legislative interventions mentioned in the amended law are positive interventions in favor of employees, they have many positive sides, and at the same time they will enable the Government to restructure personnel and employ young energy”.

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