ABU DHABI - The General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) highlighted the fact that the UAE Pension Law does not restrict a pensioner or retired individual’s decision to return-back-to-work. Contrary to that, the UAE’s Pension Authority encourages pensioners to return to work once again and contribute with the GPSSA, under the condition that they are not 60 years of age or above.

Additionally, pensioners can merge their previous service period with the current one.

The pensioner must however understand the provisions of the law prior to returning back to work, since a pension is not released if the individual’s salary in the new job is equal to, or greater than, the pension salary received previously.

As part of GPSSA’s campaign ‘Our Stories’ which is published periodically on GPSSA’s social media accounts, and in response to questions raised this past week regarding the story sent by GPSSA’s media team, the authority explained that the first challenge faced by the character in the story was that he retired at the early age of 43 without asking the GPSSA about the repercussions. To his dismay he found out that he cannot receive his pension before the age of 50, which is when he decided to return back to the workforce and merge his previous and current service periods.

The moral behind the story is that the GPSSA continues to advise individuals to work for a longer period of time in order to receive the largest pension percentage possible upon retirement.

In response to a question raised regarding what the pensioner should do once he/she returns back to work again, the GPSSA clarified that the pensioner must update his/her data with the authority the moment they start their new job, as per the conditions for merging the pension and salary for previous and current jobs.

In an explanation regarding the extent by which the pensioner may participate under the insurance umbrella in the Authority upon returning back-to-work again, it was explained that if the return with an employer is subject to the provisions of the pension law and the age of the pensioner is under 60, registration and contribution with the Authority becomes mandatory.

Regarding the eligibility of a pensioner to combine the pension and salary for his/her employment period in the private sector, the GPSSA explained that the pensioner can combine periods if the duration reached 25 years in the private sector and 20 years in the government sector without being terminated.