2018-08-15

Ramallah

West Bank / position paper

Memo on the Amendment of the General Pension Law No. (7) For the Year 2005

The advantages of the Amendment of the General Pension Law No. (7) For the Year 2005 is waiting for a proper implementation

As we adhere to our position that rejects the prejudice to the principle of separation of powers, the continuation of containing the citizens’ right to choose their representatives by public and periodic elections, the absence of the legislative power, and the increase in issuing decree-laws without having the conditions for its implementation; and as we insist on our demand to enable the citizens to enjoy their right to public and periodic elections; and in the light of the valid provisions of the Basic Law, and after viewing the decree-law No (29) of 2018 that provides for the amendment of the general pension law No (7) of 2005 and its amendments,  and as the employees’ rights and their humanitarian and social security, and their financial rights are considered constitutional rights that should not be prejudiced or derogated, MUSAWA believes, without prejudice to what we stated above, that the mentioned decree-law meets the conditions provided in the article (43) of the Basic Law, and that its provisions are also harmonized with the necessities for protecting the citizens’ economic and social rights, as the mentioned decree-law included a solution for many practical problems that were caused by the implementation of the general pension law No (7) of 2005 and its previous amendments, including: 

1- The rapid disbursement of pension rights for their intended recipients, and finding fair solutions for the pending pension files, in addition to do justice to the public sector’s employees under the provisions of the General Pension Law, and who served under the Civil Pension Law No (34) of 1959, the Pension Insurance law No (8) of 1964, and the Security Forces Insurance and Pensions Law No (16) of 2004, and who were not on duty when the general pension law No (7) of 2005 was upon entry into force, but they were hired later on in the public office, as the new decree-law included a provision that provides for applying it retroactively starting from September 1st, 2006, the date of enforcing the General Pension Law No (7) of 2005, and as it included other provisions that provide for adding the public employees’ previous terms of office to the admitted term of office for retirement, in contrary of the general pension law’s weaknesses, like the absence of a provision that enables adding those terms of office according to what is mentioned in the third article provision of the new law, what represents a positive remedy of the inadequacies in legislation, and a harmonization with the security forces insurance and pension law, what fills the gap of discrimination between public employees, both civil and military, and this considered an advantage of this decree-law that empowers the principle of the due duties of the Public Treasury in the favor of the beneficiary for adding their previous terms of office.

2- The 8th article of the new decree-law included a solution for the problem of paying the specific contributions only once the mandatory age of retirement is reached, or in the case of death, and it included a mechanism of paying this amount of money to the heirs in the case of the participant’s death, considering the sum of the specific contributions are essentially the participants’ savings that should be returned to them once they are separated from service and for any reason, especially in the case of the participant’s death while he/she is on duty, and thus, we recall the provision of paragraph 3 of article 26 of the General Pension Law No (7) of 2005, which, before the amendments under the decision of the new decree-law, provided for distributing 6% of the sum of the specific contributions on the beneficiary according to the table provided in the article number 34 of it, which included only 4 cases, out of 10 cases, whereby the sum of contributions is distributed on the heirs and the beneficiaries, as for the 6 other cases, a part of the contributions sum if kept without disbursement, although it is a part of the participant’s  inheritance, so the amendment ensured the heirs’ right to be paid the full sum of their specified contributions without any legal restrains, in addition, to paying this amount of money to the employees who retire for any other reasons but death,  like reaching the mandatory retirement age, or  early retirement, or health deficits.

3- The new decree-law fixed the problem of implementing the 29th article of the General Pension Law that was amended according to 9th article of the same decree-law, which enables a rapid payment of the beneficiaries’ receivables without delay, what plays a role in helping them to support themselves and their families, while the article No (29) of the pension law No (7) of 2005 was a barrier to end the service of many participants or the receivables of the beneficiaries and thus, referring them to retirement due to sickness, or referring them to the early retirement even if they were suffering from health deficits, what tells that there is a clear discrimination in the rights, as every employee referred to retirement because of health deficits gets an equivalence to calculate his/her retirement benefits, which is better than the equivalence of the retirement benefits of those who are referred to retirement because of elderly or for early retirement according to the calculating equivalences used in the pension body;  moreover, the decree law states in article 9, that paragraph 3  of the mentioned article 29 contradicts with article 25/1/b of the Pension Law No 7 of 2005, which could not be implemented under the text of article 29/2, as the pension body was calculating and settling the retirement benefits of all the participants referred to retirement because of health deficits in case the retirement requirement are met because of  geriatric or early retirement. 

4- The decree-law included provisions that can solve the dilemma of calculating the retirement benefits, by ensuring that the followed calculating mechanisms include the two mentioned equivalences of the Pension Law, which the participants were subjected to, and to include the amended decree-law of the General Pension Law, which prevents compromising the retirement rights of governmental employees.

5- The decree-law included a specification of the minimum pension salary in the case of health deficits or death, what enables the beneficiary to get paid with a reasonable retirement salary, regardless of the period of service accepted for retiring, especially that some beneficiaries experience health deficits or they die before spending the time of service accepted for retiring, and this amendment is a part of achieving social justice for this segment of retirees,  which guarantees them a reasonable salary for a decent life. 

Therefore, MUSAWA- the Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession believes that this decree-law is harmonized with the requirements of the article 43 of the Basic Law, and it solves an economic problem that concerns the governmental employees is it was implemented properly and if the management committed to its provisions. 

Issued on 15/8/2018

MUSAWA