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Lawmaker wants to reinstate 30% early retirement bonus
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Posted on Jun 04 2005
A lawmaker wants to keep the 30 percent early retirement bonus provision in the law, warning that its statutory demise this year would result in an exodus of retiring employees.
Saipan Rep. Norman I. Palacios said that following the passage of Public Law 13-60 or the Retirement Integrity Assurance Act, the early retirement bonus would be applicable only up to this year.
“This is the last year that you can do that. You can’t do that next year. As a result, you would have a flood of people retiring this year to take advantage of that,” said Palacios in an interview yesterday.
He cited that at Northern Marianas College alone, the early retirement of employees this year costs some $250,000.
“That’s only at the college. If you look at across the government, you’ve got a whole bunch of people,” he said.
Palacios has introduced House Bill 14-337, which aims to amend the retirement provisions for Class I members to encourage them to retire upon completing 20 years of credited service. Part of the bill will repeal and re-enact Section 11 of P.L. 13-60.
“We want this repealed and re-enacted. The public law did away with the early retirement bonus but, as I’ve said, several people who want to take advantage of that will retire this year. We need to extend the early retirement incentive,” said Palacios.
