Filenews 14 July 2022 - by Adamos Adamou
Despite the admission yesterday of the Minister of Labour Kyriakos Kousios that applications for sick benefits have increased recently due to increased coronavirus cases, employees over 63 will still not be beneficiaries of this benefit. Until at least September, when the Labour Committee will re-examine the issue and specifically the bill that has been re-tabled, in order for those over the age of 63 to be entitled to sick pay.
The gap that has existed in the legislation for a decade has in fact deprived the right to sickness benefit and unemployment benefit to people who, although they establish the right to a pension at the age of 63, choose to work until the 65th year, in order to avoid the "penalty" of 12%. The government, after pressure, tried in the past to correct the distortion, but the bill it submitted in the past was "changed" by the majority of the Parliament, as a result of which the PD first referred back and then referred to the Supreme Court.
After a settlement that the former Minister of Labour had with the Labour Committee and despite the court proceedings, the legislation was re-submitted to the Parliament. The bill is the same as in the past, with the result that the Labour Committee of the House is not facilitated for its adoption, as the conditions that previously existed for the establishment of the right did not change. The reports of the chairman of the committee Andreas Kafkalias were made in the context of the meeting that the members of the Labour Committee had with the Minister of Labour, with the latter being scheduled for discussion again in September about developments around the issue. It is noted that a petition is pending before the Supreme Court for the decision of the Parliament and for the provision of sickness/unemployment benefit for those over 63 years of age, with Mr. Kafkalias not ruling out developments from the court before the review of the issue.
