GOSI clarifies clause 38 amendment

Manama, Aug. 4 (BNA): HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa recently issued Law 15/2015 amending clause 38 of Social Insurance Law issued by Decree-by-Law 24/1976. And emanating from the keenness on the part of the General Organisation of Social Insurance (GOSI) to clarify the area of application of the modification on clause 38 of the Social Insurance Law, and as an advanced step taken ahead of the issuance of the said law, GOSI had issued the Definitions Manual of the Provisions of the Law and its amendment for distribution to those concerned as soon as the law is published on the Official Gazette in compliance with the provisions of the law. Clause 38 of the Social Insurance Law stipulates that if the service of the insured terminates without the insured becoming eligible to a pension for lack of the minimum limit of required subscription period in accordance with the provisions of the Social Insurance Law, in this case the insured may be paid in one batch. The one-batch payment is conditional upon any of the exclusively eight stipulated cases in clause 38 of the law. The amendment included the addition of three new cases to the previous cases in clause 38 of the said law, for payment of the dues of the insured who quits service without being eligible to a pension (the one-batch payment) as follows: 9- If five years have elapsed since the end of the service of the insured. 10- If the insured is eligible to a retirement pension according to any other retirement system. 11- If one year has elapsed since the insured began to practice a commercial activity or freelance vocation after the end of service. GOSI affirmed its readiness to receive applications from the beneficiaries of the new amendment as the necessary plans have already been prepared for this purpose. GOSI also had contacted the applicants via telephony regarding defrayal of the one-batch payment whose applications were suspended for impossibility of making defrayal before the issuance of the recent amendment.