Parliament clears path for retirement benefits for contract workers
Parliament approved the amended bill granting contract employees at the Ministry of Information access to the pension system, following a roll-call vote that saw 61 MPs vote in favor and 30 vote against.
The amendment stipulates that contract employees whose contracts were concluded, or approved, through the Civil Service Council under Decree No. 5240 dated April 5, 2001, will be subject to the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 47 dated June 29, 1983, and its amendments, which regulate retirement and end-of-service benefits.
Under the amended text, eligible contract employees will have the right to benefit from either a retirement pension or end-of-service compensation, under the same conditions applied to permanent employees in public administrations. They will also be entitled to benefits provided by the State Employees’ Cooperative.
Those who voted against the bill included the Lebanese Forces parliamentary bloc, the Kataeb Party bloc, as well as MPs Michel Moawad, Raji al-Saad, Wael Abou Faour, Osama Saad, Firas Hamdan, Melhem Khalaf, Yassine Yassine, Ibrahim Mneimneh, Fouad Makhzoumi, Jean Talouzian, Michel Douaihy, and Adib Abdel Massih.
