Draft bill 163.

Summary.

The draft bill proposes to limit the recognition and payment of length-of-service bonuses in the public sector, regardless of the institution, entity, or university granting them. Its provisions would be of public order and generally binding on public institutions, autonomous and semi-autonomous entities, agencies of the branches of government, and public universities that pay these bonuses from public funds. The proposed requirements, conditions, and limits would also apply to benefits established under special laws, statutes, regulations, resolutions, agreements, and special or career-service regimes. Special provisions would remain effective insofar as they were consistent with the general regime.

The text defines a length-of-service bonus as a non-remunerative benefit proportional to years of service within an institution and payable when the service relationship ends. It distinguishes this bonus from the seniority premium, described as an acquired, non-waivable, and non-attachable right of workers and state employees. Public funds include money allocated through the General State Budget, revenue generated through the performance of a public function or service, and donations. The seniority premium would continue to be governed by its own applicable provisions, without changes under the draft bill. Authorities would also be prohibited from issuing resolutions, statutes, or regulations contrary to the proposed rules, regardless of their institutional autonomy.

To qualify for the bonus, a public employee would have to be 57 years old if a woman or 62 if a man, or have reached the old-age retirement age in force under the social security system. An age exception would apply to retirement due to disability if the required years of service had been completed. The person would also have to be a permanent public employee with at least ten continuous years of service in a public-sector institution, have left employment through resignation, retirement, or a disability or old-age pension, and have received no previous length-of-service bonus. These conditions would apply regardless of the form of appointment or membership in a specific career-service regime. Excluded persons would include independent professional service providers without legal subordination, economic dependence, or subjection to regulatory and disciplinary rules, as well as officials dismissed for a serious offense or following disciplinary proceedings and those whose appointments were declared without effect.

The bonus would not be inheritable, and entities could not register beneficiaries designated in advance to receive it if the public employee died. A person meeting the requirements would have one year from the effective end of the service relationship to request recognition and payment from the public institution, entity, or university where the person worked.

The amount would be calculated solely from continuous years of service at the entity responsible for payment; periods worked at different public entities could not be combined. The proposed scale would pay six (6) months of final salary for ten (lO) years but less than fifteen (15) years of service; eight (8) months for fifteen (15) years but less than twenty (20) years; ten (10) months for twenty (20) years but less than twenty-five (25) years; and twelve (12) months for twenty-five (25) years or more. The bill sets January 1, 2028, as its effective date.

The explanatory statement cites the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (Contraloría General de la República) as a source of public-employment statistics in Panama (Panamá). The draft bill concerns public entities that recognize these benefits, their employees, people providing professional services to the state, and those responsible for public-sector budgets and personnel administration.