The Ministry of Civil Service released a letter on Thursday addressed to senior leaders of all institutions in the Kingdom announcing a change in the retirement age of civil servants.

In compliance with Article 26 of the Law on Social Security Fund, civil servants, regardless of framework, will retire at the age of 60. Nearly 2,000 officials set to retire by year’s end will continue working as normal.

The co-statutory law on civil servants and particular statutes for sub-national administrative staff categorise civil servants into three frameworks – A, B, and C – assigning three different retirement age for each – 60, 58, and 55, respectively.

“From November this year, the Ministry of Civil Service will maintain that civil servants under frameworks B and C serve until the age of 60,” the letter said.

Minister of Civil Service Pich Bun Thin said civil servants in frameworks B and C who reached retirement age in November and were provided pension funds for the first time are required to return the funds to the state budget.

They still need to continue working in their frameworks until the age of 60, he said.

Ministry of Civil Service undersecretary of state Chut Monny told The Post on Sunday that “the [new] law would apply to officials who are set to retire this November onwards. Those who already retired in October will not be affected by the law,” he said.

Monny said the revised law would affect around 10,000 civil servants who are in frameworks B and C.

The executive director of the Centre for Alliance of Labour and Human Rights (Central) Moeun Tola said the government should revise the statutory retirement for all officials to retire at the same age and align it with the new law.

He also asked the government to determine the retirement age of working officials who perform administrative and manual work.

“[Blue-collar workers] should be provided with the opportunity to stop or retire before white-collar workers. White-collars workers do not perform as strenuous tasks as blue-collar workers.

“They can perform their work in a hazard-free environment. They can also work longer than blue-collar workers,” Monny said.