Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsueh Ling (薛凌) on Sunday criticized a law that allows civil servants to count time served in the military toward their pension, a perk that ordinary citizens do not enjoy.
“It’s the right of the millions of men eligible for military service,” Hsueh said.
The Civil Servants Retirement Act (公務人員退休法) states that civil servants who do their mandatory military service can have that time counted when their pension is calculated. Furthermore, the portion of their health insurance that they would normally pay out of their own pocket is paid by the government during military service.
Calling the provision unfair, Hsueh proposed amending Article 24 of the Labor Pension Act (勞工退休金條例) so that any worker who has served in the military can count that time when their pension is calculated.
Hsueh also proposed amending Article 18 of the Labor Insurance Act (勞工保險條例) so that labor insurance would absorb the portion of health insurance normally paid by an individual serving in the military.
“Military service may be mandatory, but the government should equalize treatment and not treat civil servants better [than ordinary Taiwanese],” Hsueh said.
Hsueh said it was a matter of justice and involved millions of men facing compulsory military service.
“It is unfair that civil servants can include time spent doing military service in their pension, while ordinary citizens can’t,” Hsueh said. “Workers have rights too.”
The proposal, which has been signed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and DPP legislators, is under review.
KMT Legislator Chang Chia-jun (張嘉郡) said workers and civil servants should receive equal treatment and if civil servants could include military service in the calculation for their pension, so should ordinary workers.
“Parity means fairness and justice,” Chiang said.
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