Mandatory Anvil Retirement Package

Islamabad:

The federal government has decided to introduce a mandatory retirement package for employees of ministries, departments and divisions, which will be scrapped as part of the government’s austerity drive, according to official documents.

According to the documents, the finance ministry approved a hybrid package for Pakistan Works Department (PWD) employees and decided that similar packages will be given to employees of other institutions, under restructuring.

Under the PWD package, workers with 10 years of service will be paid a lump sum equal to one and a half basic monthly wages for the rest of their retirement age.

Those employees whose tenure exceeds 10 years will be given a monthly pension along with a lump sum equal to one and a half basic monthly salary for the remainder of their retirement age.

The federal government has finalized the redundancy package for the compulsory retirement scheme, which will also be included in the Civil Servants Act 1977. Amendments to the Civil Servants Act 1973 will be approved by the Federal Cabinet.

According to the document obtained by the Express Tribune, similar packages will be applied to employees of any federal institutions or ministries that will be restructured as part of the austerity drive.

The package would apply to officials to dissolve ministries and merge departments. Any employee who does not accept the mandatory retirement package would be dismissed from service.

However, the government employee will have the opportunity to submit an application to a committee that will be set up by the prime minister within seven days. The committee will decide on the civil servant’s application within 30 days. Currently, according to the documents, summaries containing four different types of severance package proposals for employees of the abolished or merged ministries and departments are under active consideration.

The proposals include a lump sum equal to 10 basic salaries for employees with 10 years’ service. One and a half basic salaries for those with 10-20 years of service and two monthly basic salaries for those with more than 20 years.

A second summary suggests tips and pensions. It says that employees with less than 5 years of service would be given nothing. those with 5-10 years of service to be tipped a basic salary up to retirement age. Pension will be given to those who have more than 10 years of service.

The third summary, which was initiated by the Establishment Division, recommended that employees with 10 years of service be paid one-quarter and one-half of their gross monthly salary for 10-20 years of service.