It is the board of directors and management of parastatal bodies that will evaluate and determine whether to award their long-serving employees with the long service allowance being implemented by the public sector.

Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status Myriam Telemaque highlighted this fact yesterday while addressing a private notice question brought in by leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Wavel Ramkalawan.

She noted that her ministry cannot impose the allowance on parastatal bodies – state owned enterprises that generate and manage their own income – since they are not budget dependent.

“The government has introduced public sector long service allowance for employees who work with government ministries, departments, agencies and other organs that depend on state budget allocation,” Minister Telemaque explained.

The allowance expects to benefit public sector employees on salary band 1 to 5 and other employees who are not serving a contract with public service commission or who are on a fixed-term contract with an agency.

“This public sector allowance is not applicable to public enterprises that do not receive a budget with the government, the reason being that these parastatal bodies operate on a commercial basis and their expenses are based on their revenues.”

“They are also under no obligation to adopt the government’s salary structure and public service orders. They have their own conditions of service and company policies; the government does not interfere in the conditions and benefits they provide their employees as long as they respect existing laws,” Minister Telemaque added.

She however remarked that companies such as the Indian Ocean Tuna (IOT) and Public Utilities Company (PUC) have confirmed that they will be providing their long-serving staff with the allowance.

Many members of the National Assembly (MNAs) expressed the need for other parastatals to do the same, especially since this 2019 national theme is ‘Valorise hard work’.

Complements of Seychelles NATION