BRATISLAVA, September 16, (WEBNOVINY) — Will the education system, health care system, or the police and public administration lose thousands of employees who reached retirement age because they will have to choose between pension and their job? The amendment of Labor, Social Affairs and Family Minister Jozef Mihal should be clearer after Monday’s meeting of representatives of the government with their social partners. “I will give you a definite position after Monday’s discussion about the amendment with social partners,” said Labor Minister Mihal for SITA news agency. The Labor Ministry was evaluating the interdepartmental review of the amendment on Monday and Tuesday this week. Social partners will have time to study the amendment on Thursday and Friday.
The ruling coalition plans to stop the existing practice that upon reaching retirement age a person could continue working and concurrently receive a salary alongside a retirement pension. The amendment should affect pensioners working in public administration, teachers, medical doctors, civil servants, judges, soldiers and police officers. They will have to choose between receiving a wage or an old-age pension. The Cabinet considers the change in order to increase chances of graduates to find a job. Experts from various areas warn that it will not be easy. Labor Minister Jozef Mihal (SaS) has not said specifically what are his plans with working pensioners.
For example, the education sector employs 76,000 teachers, while almost 7,000 of them reached retirement age. Education Minister Eugen Jurzyca (SDKU-DS) underscored that one in eleven teachers is pensioner. School principals are fighting against the intentions of Labor Minister Mihal. They stated that the number of graduates and unemployed teachers is significantly lower than the number of employed teachers who reached the retirement age. If retired teachers are forced to leave, it would cause a shortage of mathematics and foreign language teachers. Prime Minister Iveta Radicova indicated that retired teachers could continue working, though not as employees but on a limited contract, which would on the other hand limit the number of their working hours.
SITA