A new fixed allowance will be adopted to bridge the gap between the minimum wage and existing salaries, instead of revising civil servants’ basic salaries, in preparation for the introduction of the minimum wage next year, the Civil Service Commission has said.
According to the minimum wage policy that was established in November, every civil servant would be eligible for MVR 7,000 as minimum pay starting in January, which would comprise the base salary and set allowances.
Rather than altering the basic salary, the government opted to establish a fixed allowance to cover the minimum wage. This means that about 11,828 government employees will be eligible for the new minimum wage allowance beginning next year.
While explaining why a fixed allowance was selected over revising the basic salary, Dr Mohamed Faizal, Secretary General of the National Pay Commission, indicated that changing the basic salary is a lengthy and difficult undertaking, and that a fixed allowance was implemented as a temporary solution.
According to Faizal, the work on revising the basic salary would be done concurrently with the work on national pay harmonization.
The minimum wage would be given to civil servants in eight levels from the support and general services. The minimum pay allowance for such workers was established based on their current salary.
According to the Civil Service Commission, the forthcoming January pay will be deposited along with the new minimum wage allowance.
