National Pay Commission (NPC) has enabled employees to choose their retirement pension plan.
The change was made to address concerns from employees in the education sector regarding the pay framework allowing employees to be paid their pension in accordance with their previous smaller salary after retirement. Around 500 teachers signed a petition and submitted it to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to address their concerns.
The first amendment has been made to the pay framework, which allows employees to choose their preferred pension and benefits plan if they resign 18 months after being transferred to the state pay framework. Employees under the state pay framework can choose to receive their benefits under one bulk payment or monthly payments.
The benefits will be provided to employees who had served the state for 30 years and their monthly salary will be determined by the average basic salary they have received in the last five years of their service. Additionally, benefits will be provided to employees who are approved to go into retirement by the relevant state institution. As such, employees will receive benefits within six months after leaving their job and will have the opportunity to choose between receiving benefits under the state pay framework or under the pay structure of their place of employment.
Employees in the education sector were the first to be paid under the state pay framework. The framework aims to provide benefits to all state employees who are working at institutions that do not have a specific structure for providing benefits to employees who leave their job.
