Conditions for calculating pensions

Dr. Yousef Mohammed
Finally, after nearly a year and a half of the Federal Supreme Court Decision No. (212-Federal-2022)[1] regarding the applicable pension law in the Kurdistan Region, the Kurdistan Regional Government agreed to implement the court decision. At first I did not want to say anything about this issue, but later due to the many questions asked by pensioners and due to different interpretations and many mistakes in the media and even the relevant administrative authorities for how to calculate pensions.
However, now that the issues related to the salaries of all employees of the region will be linked to the federal government, the decision of the Federal Court will be a good support to ensure all the rights of pensioners in the region like other parts of Iraq.
First, the conditions of retirement and some general rules and remarks:
1. This law is a comprehensive law for all types of civilian, military, judicial, etc. pensions and all positions, ranks and titles (Article 3), even taking into account the pension of contract employees (Article 21-13). Therefore, the implementation of the backwardness in the field of pensions will end, much of the corruption in this field and the salary of “bandiwar” will end and prevent the existence of two or more salaries Consolidated Pension[3].
2. The legal retirement age is 60 years (Article 10, First Amendment) and the minimum service for calculating retirement is 15 years. However, several groups are excluded from the highest compulsory retirement age such as university teachers (professors and assistant professors, some specialized medical specialties …) who retire at the age of 63, except political prisoners and relatives of martyrs First Amendment to the Consolidated Pension Act). However, employees who have reached the legal retirement age and have less than 15 years of service are also entitled to a final bonus (Article 22) or a deductible monthly pension (Article 21-6). At the same time, any employee who has reached the age of 45 and has served for 15 years can voluntarily apply for retirement (Article 21-1).
3. In this law, during the vote in the second session of the House of Representatives in early 2014, special pensions were increased for high-ranking officials such as the president, prime minister, parliamentarians, ministers and advisors. However, later, by a decision of the Federal Supreme Court (36-Federal-2014),[5] the provisions related to the pension of those mentioned were repealed. Therefore, they will now retire like any other pensioner under the same conditions and equations, which will ensure justice in the salaries of pensioners. However, several groups such as higher education employees, judges, prosecutors, ambassadors, directors general and members of the council of commissioners
Election Commission) are entitled to special pensions because of their expertise and work (Articles 35-4-8).
4. The minimum pension according to this law is (500,000) dinars (Article 21-4 amended). The Iraqi Council of Ministers can also increase the low salaries of pensioners by an additional 100,000 dinars in accordance with the inflation rate (Article 36).
5. This law also applies to pensioners who retired before 2014 and whose pensions must be amended according to the equation contained in this law (Article 35-3).
According to Article 37-1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Federal Supreme Court, all pensioners are entitled to receive their salaries as provided for in Law No. 9 of 2014 and must be compensated for that period.
Second, the retirement account equation
The calculation of pension salary according to this law is not a fixed percentage of the last salary as in previous laws, but a multi-stage equation that takes into account the basic salary, living allowance and certificate allowance.
1. For all those over the age of 45 and with more than 15 years of service (Article 21-2): Their “basic” pension is
“Basic” pension (X)= Average salary (معدل الراتب) * Years of service * 2.5 \ (dividend)
In this equation, the average salary is the sum of the last 36 months of the employee’s basic salary “excluding allowances” (Division 36) (Articles 1-16 and 17).
2. Subsistence allowance (مخصصات المعيشة) which is 1% of the “basic” pension salary (X) for each year of service (Article 35-9).
That is, subsistence allowance (Y)= 1 * “basic” pension salary (X) * years of service \ (dividend)
3. The degree allowance (Z) which is a percentage of the “basic” pension salary (X) (Article 35- X) is as follows:
– Diploma (5%) of basic pension salary.
– Bachelor’s degree: (10%) of basic pension.
– Higher Diploma and Master’s Degree: (15%) of basic pension.
– Doctorate: (20%) of basic pension.
That is, Degree Allowance (Z)= (percentage of each Degree Allowance\ divided by 100) * “Basic” Pension Salary (X).
4. The total pension for each pensioner is the sum of the previous three stages. Mean
Total pension= “basic” pension (X) + subsistence allowance (Y) + qualification allowance (Z).
Any employee with 25 years of service shall be entitled to a final salary of 12 full salaries (ie 12 * the amount of the last salary received from the job including the basic salary and all allowances) in addition to the monthly pension (Article 21-9).
6. The pensioner can object to the decision to calculate his pension within 90 days of notifying the amount of his salary before the Pensioners’ Affairs Audit Council, which was established according to articles 29 and 30 of the law Federal within 60 days.
Finally, I hope that the relevant parties in the implementation of this law to work fairly to ensure all the rights of eligible pensioners in the region like all other regions of Iraq, and not make them victims of illegal pensions. However, the federal government has provided a number of other facilities and privileges for pensioners in the field of travel, health and payment of their salaries that can be worked to implement these.
Due to the lack of a pension fund in the Kurdistan Region in recent years, the issue of how to finance the salaries of pensioners in the region may become a problem between the region and the federal government. The pensioners of the Kurdistan Region can be treated like those who retired before January 1, 2008, whose salaries will be paid by the federal government according to Article 32-2-a of the law.
[1] . See the text of the decision at:
https://iraqfsc.iq/krarid/212_fed_2022.pdf
[2] . See the text of the law at:
https://iraqld.e-sjc-services.iq/LoadLawBook.aspx?page=1&SC=170320149635652&BookID=30802
[3] . See the text of the law at:
https://iraqld.e-sjc-services.iq/LoadLawBook.aspx?page=1&SC=121220193727811&BookID=41812
[4] . See the text of Article 37 of the Law at:
Al-Waqa’ al-Iraqiyya, No. 4314, dated 10/3/2014, pp. 30-3
[5] . See the text of the decision at:
https://iraqfsc.iq/krarid/36_fed_2014.pdf
6.See: Al-Waqa’ al-Iraqiyya, No. 4679, dated 13/6/2022, p.