The accumulation of salary with a pension of only 15% will also apply to teachers and doctors who will continue to work and receive a pension, the Minister of Labor announces. “The cuts are neither my idea nor PSD's”
The Minister of Labor, Florin Manole, announced on Tuesday evening, on Antena 3, that the Government's project regarding the accumulation of the pension with the salary, a project by which the amount of the pension will be limited to 15% for budget workers who continue their activity, will target all categories of budget workers, including doctors and teachers.
“This project refers to all categories of pensions, regardless of whether it is about those that have exclusive contributions, those that are also with a part from the state budget, early retirements, etc. It is extremely important to be extremely cautious with such a regulation because there have been cases in which the topic of the accumulation of pension with salary has been returned by the Constitutional Court”, declared the Minister of Labor.
“The object is not to reduce the level of services”
Florin Manole emphasized that the measure prepared by the Government is not aimed at prohibiting work for those who have reached retirement age, especially since the fields of education and health are of “great social impact”. “They must be treated very carefully, because it is not and should not be the objective of any regulation to reduce the level of public services, let alone health and education,” said Manole.
Regarding the issue of reducing the personnel in the administration, the Minister of Labor said that he is not a supporter of them, indicating that there are other ways to reduce the salary expenses of the state.
“These cuts are neither my idea nor PSD's idea, and therefore I cannot be their lawyer or supporter. Whoever has the idea should support it publicly and argue it. I have said repeatedly, not only in this context, that I do not support firing people. I am the Minister of Labor, not the minister of layoffs, and I do not want to change my position. On the one hand, on the other hand, I understand the need for spending cuts,” said Manole.
He mentioned that, in the ministry he leads, personnel costs decreased by 6% compared to January, without any layoffs. The economy was achieved by the fact that some employees retired, and those who came in their place are rookies with lower salaries because they do not have the seniority of those who retired.
The normative act that will regulate the conditions under which the pension can be combined with the salary will also introduce new rules regarding postings and transfers between state institutions.
“The main idea is to have a stabilization of the system. Now, when we speak, I think that I have signed maybe dozens of transfers or secondments. This is practiced between ministries. Sometimes, it is absolutely justified, in the sense that you need one or another person in the official or another, but with all that, it is a movement that must be stopped and followed by an evaluation”, said Florin Manole.
The conditions under which the pension will be combined with the salary
The Secretary of State in the Ministry of Labour, Ciprian Văcaru (PSD), declared on Tuesday at Prima News that, in the 30 days until the law comes into force, the person who accumulates both the pension and the salary will have to choose whether he will stay with 15% of the pension plus the salary he gets at work, until he is 70 years old.
“First of all, a reform does not mean a collective dismissal. It is precisely for this reason that there is this provision by which those in local administrations have the possibility to either go with the option of firing people or making reductions in expenses,” said Ciprian Văcaru, quoted by News.ro.
He mentioned that, “if we look at the pension and salary part, there will probably be some voluntary departures, when this law comes into force”.
“We are talking about a legislative amendment that says the following: when this law enters into force, in the 30 days until it enters into force, that person who accumulates both pension and salary at the moment, will have to choose whether to stay with 15% of the pension plus the salary he gets at work, until the age of 70, and then after the age of 70 he will complete the pension in the amount of 100%, of course, bearing in mind that (..) in those years of work in which you accumulate the pension with salary, but only that 15% value, you also have contributions that are also recalculated when you retire”, he mentioned.
About the risk of the provision falling under the constitutional control, Ciprian Văcaru showed that when this request came from Prime Minister Bolojan, that there are several attempts in various draft laws that were failed at the Constitutional Court.
“Here we are referring to the way in which this legislation is passed, once, in the form of a GEO, two in hand, related to the fact that we are talking about two constitutional rights, the right to a pension and the right to a salary, and when you affect either one or the other through this amendment, there is a great possibility that it will not pass to the Court. This system of prohibiting the cumulation of pension with salary was thought of on a legislation of the magistrates in which they, at the time of who have retired, they have a legislation by which they can accumulate that 15% pension with salary”, said the secretary of state.
