On the regularisation of contract employees, the Royal Civil Service Commission has recommended to the Cabinet that regular and consolidated contracts be merged into para-regular contracts. During the Meet the Press session today, the Prime Minister said that the Cabinet received the RCSC’s recommendation yesterday and has yet to review it for a final decision. Para-regular employees are not permanent but enjoy regular employees’ benefits and job security. They have a fixed-term contract.
In its recommendation, the RCSC said that para-regular employees must receive benefits including a provident fund, at par with regular civil servants. However, the commission also wrote that the 30 per cent contract allowance must be discontinued.
The recommendation also states that changes in the benefits and employment status of the contract staff should not have perverse implications on the recruitment and retention of regular civil servants.
The RCSC finalised this recommendation after reviewing the final report on contract regularisation from the Cabinet’s Sub-committee which included representatives from the RCSC.
“The change in the nomenclature from contract to para regular can be considered by the RCSC. However, the service terms of the para regular will have to be defined as fixed-term employment, and accordingly, service agreements will have to be drawn up. Finally, para-regular employees must receive benefits, provident fund benefits at par with regular civil servants rather than the five per cent recommended in the report. However, the 30 per cent contract allowed for regular contract employees should thereafter be discontinued because they are para-regular,” said the Prime Minister.
According to RCSC, regular contract employees are recruited against the approved staff strength to address the shortage of human resources for a particular category of position or job in the agency.
Consolidated contract employees are recruited when there is a critical need for the specific qualification, skills and experience for a particular category of position.
The only difference between regular and consolidated contracts is that regular contract employees get a 30 per cent contract allowance and pay raise while consolidated contract employees do not.
As of today, there are about 5,000 individuals on contract in the civil service. Of if, over 4,200 are on consolidated contracts and the remaining are on regular contracts.
Sonam Yuden
Edited by Sonam Pem
