HARARE City Council (HCC) recently said it will lay-off all council employees who have reached the retirement age of 65 as it moves to contain employment costs.
The previous restructuring exercise of council employees created a skills gap, accounting for the constant re-engagement of retirees on contract basis in order to mitigate the skills shortages.
In terms of Statutory Instrument 135 of 2012, an employee is inclined to retire at 65, while ages 55 and 60 are for early and normal retirement, respectively.
In a Human Resources and General Purposes Committee minutes, acting human capital director Major Marara (Rtd) said the frequent changes to the retirement policy exposed employees to physical and psychological trauma, and could also erode stability in the organisation.
“The current salaries and conditions of service in council are no longer competitive in the market and there is a risk of losing the younger employees, leaving the older and more loyal employees to retain guard,” Marara said.
He also said the current retirement policy would be maintained for continuity of service, in view of the prevailing tough economic environment.
HCC would, therefore, focus on paying pensions dues for employees who had already retired and in the process minimise litigations related to non-payment of pensions, while simultaneously benefiting those already on retirement.
