Raising the compulsory retirement age following 365 sick leave days

This Wednesday, 15th June, the bill for the purpose of adjusting section 83 of the Act of 5th August was presented to the Social Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.

This section provides for the compulsory retirement of civil servants on the first day of the month following the month in which they – after the age of 60 – have accumulated a total of 365 sick leave days or 365 days pertaining to the assignment to non-active service due to illness. The age of 60 was set taking into account the minimum age permitting people to take early retirement at the time said Act was adopted (1978).

Following the subsequent pension reforms initiated by both the previous and the present government the age to take up early retirement has been gradually increased. The adjustments to section 83 are aimed at bringing into line the raising of the age of 60 with the age at which the professionally active population is permitted to take up early retirement.

This means that the age of 60 will be raised:

• to 62  years as from  1st july  2016
• to 62.5 years as from 1st January 2017
• to 63 years as from 1st January 2018

The Minister for Pensions, Daniel BACQUELAINE :

«  By adjusting section 83 I want to guarantee coherency in our pension system by taking into account the various pension reforms already approved. Henceforth, compulsory retirement following 365 sick leave days will no longer be possibe as from the age of 60, but from the age of 62, subsequently as from the age of 62.5 years and finally as from the age of 63 years. This raising of the age for compulsory retirement will permit civil sevrants to preserve for a longer period of time both their possibilities of social re-integration and their amount of sick leave days. »