Monrovia – Liberia Minister of Labor Cllr. Charles Gibson is calling on the government of Liberia to work out a modality for the extension of the retirement age across Liberia from 60 to 65 years.
The labor minister made the call on Friday at the Monrovia City Hall during an event marking the retirement of 36 employees of the National Port Authority.
According to him, while the government of Liberia is encouraging young people to take over the job market, it’s only fair enough for healthy and experienced employees to stay on the job as a means of passing down their experience to the younger generation.
“The law that states that you retire at age 60, we are going to revisit that law. In as much we want to give our young people the opportunity, we have to be reminded that you need to sit on the old mat to fix the new one,” Cllr. Gibson said.
Cllr. Gibson noted that government ministries and agencies have found it difficult to adjust between retiring experience employees and recruiting young and inexperienced job seekers.
As per the new pension laws of Liberia which came into effect on February 13, 2017. Qualification for pension is based on the age of 60 or in the case of poor health.
“We are also considering that the retirement age is extended to 65 years”.
In furtherance, Cllr. Gibson informed the public that the portion of the current retirement law of Liberia which denies employees their just benefit because of injuries outside of the job description is also being looked at for possible amendments regarding employee welfare.
“We see several gaps in the retirement laws, whereas if you are working with a concession company and you are not incapacitated by injuries on the job or you have not reached the age of retirement and for any reason, you are incapacitated to not continue the job, you will not benefit your retirement money. We going to change that, because it is important that we protect the future of our people,” Cllr. Gibson noted.
According to him, because of these “bad” retirement laws, retirees at concession areas are mostly living at the mercy of their former co-workers.