Govt to encourage public employees to take entitled no-pay leave

The government has decided to encourage employees in the public sector to take no-pay leave for a period of 5 years without affecting their seniority and pension for employment or other productive work abroad.

The decision was reached after taking into consideration the prevailing economic situation in the country, the government said.

Accordingly, a proposal tabled by the Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs and Provincial Council to amend circulars will be issued amending the existing provisions to allow public employees to take no-pay leave for 5 years was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.

Under the existing provisions, a public officer is entitled to a maximum of 5 years of no-pay leave during his tenure for study or foreign employment.

However, they are not interested in taking such leave due to non-inclusion of that period in the calculation of pensions, impact on seniority and other conditions.