Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said an employee has the preferential right to obtain his EPF and ETF deposits after completing service at 55 or to serve up to 60 years.
The Government’s Budget 2021 proposed to raise the retirement age for the purpose of the Employment Provident Fund to 60 and remove the disparity between men and women.
Responding to queries by trade union leaders at a recent meeting the minister said the government decided to extend the private sector retirement age to 60 after considering requests made by the country’s labour leaders over a long period of time.
“In implementing these decisions, trade union leaders must acknowledge that their members must be guaranteed the right to retire at 55 if they wish, and that it would be fair to provide them with their Provident Fund benefits at the time of retirement”.
The Minister also said that the Provident Fund will provide benefits to employees who wish to serve up to 60 when they retire at the age of 55. The Minister made this statement at a meeting of the National Labour Advisory Council held at the Ministry of Labour recently.
Responding to comments made at the meeting, which was attended by trade union leaders and representatives of the Employers’ Federation, the Minister said, the national retirement age should be increased as the life expectancy is significantly higher now than what it was when the decision was taken to make the retirement age as 55.
Representatives of the Employers’ Federation said that although the proposal could be accepted as a matter of policy, there were practical issues and problems with retaining employees after 55 in some industries.
Employers’ Federation representatives further said the productivity of employees above 55 could wane in some sectors and this was a concern. Therefore, the Director General of the Employees’ Federation Kanishka Weerasinghe pointed out the importance of amending the relevant Acts to include the contents of the existing collective agreements if the age of retirement is extended to 60 years.
The Minister requested the trade union leaders and representatives of the employers’ federation to discuss any criteria in this regard and to submit the proposals to him.
The Minister instructed the Labour Commissioner General, Prabhath Chandrakeerthi to convene the discussion committee headed by the Labour Commissioner General and take a decision and submit a report to him.
The Minister told National Labour Advisory Council representatives that the relevant laws will be drafted in the future. Ministry Secretary Mapa Pathirana was also present.
