THE GOVERNMENT may not be able to insist that retiring public servants give three months notice before leaving their jobs.
In a letter issued late last week the body charged with overseeing the implementation of the Croke Park agreement said public servants only have to give one month’s notice of retirement. The body also signalled that staff can change their minds on retirement up until the last minute.
Many staff are retiring before more stringent pension arrangements come into force early next year. The Government had sought to introduce the three-month notice of retirement in an attempt to quantify public service employment numbers for next year in advance of the December budget.
The possibility of large numbers of staff leaving the public service early in 2012 has come into focus in recent months as the Government has set a deadline of the end of February for the ending of the “grace period”.
Under this, pensions for retiring staff – which have been based on current pay levels – would be determined by the salary scales that were in place before public service pay cuts introduced in the last year.
In July the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform instructed that staff who intended to retire before the pension “grace period” deadline had to give three months’ notice. In a circular to personnel managers, it said it was anticipated there “could be a large increase in the number of retirements of staff in the run-up to the end of the grace period”. “In order to protect services it is critical that management in the Civil Service have knowledge of the numbers of staff retiring and the business areas that will be affected by potentially large-scale departures.”
Broadly similar circulars were issued by management in other parts of the public service.
Last Friday the national Croke Park implementation body set out its view in a letter to the group overseeing the agreement in the local authority sector.
“Having considered the specific matter raised, the body is of the view that circular letter S.8/2011 does not prevent a public servant giving one month’s notice as per their contract of employment.
“The body also understands that there is no prohibition on a person withdrawing their notice up to the date indicated as the last day of service.
“The body is conscious that the anticipated departure of a large number of public servants by the end of February will give rise to significant practical issues in terms of processing applications, payments etc and, in this regard, the circular expressly states that failure to give three months notice could result in delays in payment of pension benefits and any other payments due . . .”
The letter sent by the implementation body relates to the local authority sector only. Some observers suggested it would be virtually certain that its scope would apply across the public service.
