| 25 May 2010 |
|
Legal experts examine Social Security Law amendments
- Text size
AMMAN - Legal experts and women activists on Monday examined the potential benefits and pitfalls in the recently endorsed amendments to the Social Security Law.
At a symposium held by the Arab Women's Legal Network (AWLN), Social Security Cooperation (SSC) Assistant Director General for Insurance Issues Nadia Rawabdeh said the temporary legislation provides further protection to subscribers' rights, compared to the previous SSC law.
However, some participants contended that the temporary law has several loopholes.
In her opening address, AWLN Director Judge Ihsan Barakat noted that there is "confusion arising from the legislation drafting process".
"We feel that there are insufficient guidelines for drafting this law and other laws," she said, noting that sound legislation is essential to guarantee human rights.
Although intensive discussions were held prior to the endorsement of the temporary law, there are still outstanding questions on various articles in the legislation, Barakat said.
Rawabdeh briefed the attendees on the reasons for drafting the legislation, pointing out that early retirement and other social security costs were close to exceeding SSC revenues.
"Of the overall retired personnel, 78 per cent receive early retirement," she indicated.
Citing SSC figures, she said one-third of employed Jordanians were not covered by social security since the previous law did not compel them to subscribe to the SSC.
A large portion of SSC pensioners did not have health insurance and the salaries of 95 per cent of SSC subscribers are currently below JD600, she pointed out.
Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) Secretary General and women's activist Asma Khader noted that the new law met women's requirements, describing the rise in the early retirement age from 45 to 50 as a "positive" development.
"Women need to work more years in order to reach decision-making posts and receive better salaries and thereby better pensions," Khader told The Jordan Times, stressing that she disagrees with the opposition to the new early retirement age.
She also referred to some calls for higher pension rates as "infeasible", noting that the law aims to balance SSC requirements to ensure its sustainability with those of the public.
However, Khader said issues such as defining hazardous work should not have been left for the Cabinet to decide on.
Other lawyers also raised concerns that the law delegates several authorities to the Cabinet, noting that the legislation, which went into effect in April, should have been studied further to leave no room for interpretation.
Saddam Abu Azzam, head of the legislation unit at the National Centre for Human Rights, criticised local laws for often leaving many issues and fine points unclear and up to the interpretation of authorities.
He underlined the importance of examining draft legislation thoroughly prior to endorsement and taking international requirements into account.
The AWLN symposium, which was attended by judges, lawyers and representatives from the Legislation Bureau, is part of the network's project on the enhancement of legislative drafting skills, set to conclude by the end of this year.
By Abeer Nouman
© Jordan Times 2010
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Loading ...
Post a Comment
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.