SGK expert warns civil servants retiring in the new year! 'Flat-rate raises will not affect retirement pensions...'

With the decision published in the Official Gazette on July 15, the lowest civil servant salary was increased to 22,017 lira, and a 25 percent raise was applied to retirement pensions. Thus, civil servants became entitled to receive an 8,077 lira flat-rate raise in addition to the 17.55 percent raise resulting from the collective bargaining agreement and inflation difference.

However, the 8,077 lira flat-rate raise granted to civil servants will not be reflected in base salaries. Therefore, civil servants will not see this payment in their retirement pensions when they retire.

Stating that civil servants who want to retire in January should pay attention to the issue of flat-rate raises, Chief Social Security Specialist İsa Karakaş warned civil servants about this matter. Noting that all civil servants should carefully calculate the retirement bonus and pension they will receive before retiring, Karakaş included the following statements: “A raise was made in July. 17.55 percent of the raise was a proportional raise. 8,077 lira of it was a flat-rate raise. This 8,077 lira flat-rate raise will have no benefit for the retirement pension you will receive in January. Furthermore, the 8,077 lira flat-rate raise will also have no benefit for the retirement bonus you will receive.”

“THE 8,077 LIRA FLAT-RATE RAISE WILL NOT AFFECT RETIREMENT PENSIONS”

Explaining that only the 13,940 lira portion covered by the 17.55 percent proportional raise out of the lowest civil servant salary of 22,017 lira will be taken into account, Karakaş said, “However, no matter how much of a raise is applied to the 8,077 lira portion in January, it will in no way have any benefit for the retirement bonus or retirement pension. Therefore, we can say that it is necessary to make this calculation before deciding whether or not to retire.”

Karakaş stated that civil servants subject to the Retirement Fund (Emekli Sandığı) have a pension accrual rate of 75 percent upon retirement. Stating that despite such a high accrual rate, civil servant pensions and bonuses are calculated at a low level, Karakaş noted that the 8,077 lira flat-rate raise is not taken into account in the 22,017 lira salary, and the remaining 13,940 lira is taken as the basis. For this reason, Karakaş pointed out that although the lowest civil servant salary is 22,017 lira, the lowest civil servant retirement pension is 9,876 lira.

"LOWER THAN 50 PERCENT OF SALARIES RECEIVED WHILE WORKING"

Stating that the difference between the salary a civil servant receives while working and the pension they receive upon retirement has dropped to 44 percent, Karakaş assessed, “Due to the flat-rate raise, after January, while civil servants previously received around 65-70 percent of the salary they earned while working, this will drop to even below 50 percent.”

Stating that with the law enacted in October 2008, the salaries of those who became civil servants after this date will be calculated according to the Social Security Institution (SGK) law rather than the Retirement Fund, Karakaş explained, “If a civil servant subject to the Retirement Fund has 25 years of service, they have a 75 percent pension accrual rate. If the same civil servant is working according to the SGK Law No. 5510, all those who became civil servants after October 2008 are no longer subject to the Retirement Fund. Therefore, the pension to be granted to them will be based on a 50 percent rate. In this case, a civil servant subject to the Retirement Fund has a 75 percent accrual rate if they have 25 years of service, while one subject to SGK has a 50 percent rate. In this situation, there is a 25 percent difference in the pension accrual rate.”