REDUCED PENSION IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR – CONDITIONS UNTIL 31.12.2022

/ / Published in Legal Issues for Individuals

Public employees who wish to receive early retirement with 25 years of service, even from the age of 55 up to 58, have a deadline until the end of 2022, subject to conditions. From January 2023 onwards, the relevant retirement age limit is set at 62 years.
In the upcoming mini social security bill, expected to be passed by the Parliament by the end of October, the issue that arose with the retirement age limits for the public sector after the opinion of the Legal Council of the State will be addressed. This opinion effectively nullifies the retirement age limits for reduced pensions that are below 62 years.
The question posed to the Ministry of Labor, specifically the General Secretariat of Social Security, was whether public employees could continue to retire with a reduced pension at the previous age limits even after 31.12.2021, namely:
• At age 55 for women and 60 for men who completed 25 years of insurance in 2010.
• At age 56 for men and women who completed 25 years of insurance in 2011.
• At age 58 for men and women who completed 25 years of insurance in 2012.
The General Accounting Office had pending applications from some hundreds of public employees, mostly educators, whose requests were on a binding schedule for approval. The Ministry sent a relevant inquiry to the Legal Council of the State and received a legal opinion early in the summer, which not only closed the door on retirement for 2022 but concluded that these reduced age limits should not have applied at all.
To resolve this issue, the Ministry of Labor decided that public employees who had established retirement rights up to 31.12.2012, i.e., those who complete 25 years of service by then, would continue to have the right until 31.12.2022 to retire with a reduced pension based on the age limits that applied for these categories.
For insured persons who will not meet these conditions by 31.12.2022, the retirement age for reduced pension increases from 1.1.2023 to 62 years, as applies to all public employees who establish retirement rights from 1.1.2013 onwards, as well as in the private sector.