Guardian Council Approves Ban on Employing Retirees
Abbasali Kadkhodaei, spokesperson for the Guardian Council, announced on Thursday, September 22, that the council has approved the amended bill on the prohibition of employing retirees.
The bill was initially approved by the Islamic Consultative Assembly in early Mordad of this year with the aim of restricting the employment of retirees in government bodies, but the Guardian Council stated that some provisions conflicted with the authority of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, particularly regarding armed forces, and referred the bill back to parliament. It was ultimately amended in parliament on the sixth of Shahrivar.
Mr. Kadkhodaei explained parts of the approved text on Thursday, according to which the heads of the three branches of government, the first deputy to the president, the vice speakers of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, members of the Guardian Council, ministers, and deputies to the president are exempt from this bill.
However, the bill will prevent the employment of retirees as governors, ambassadors, and deputy ministers. Previously, it had been announced that with its implementation, “1,700 government officials” would have to resign from their positions.
Regarding the dismissal of mayors, conflicting opinions have been published. Tayyebeh Siavoshi, representative of Tehran in parliament, stated that the bill includes mayors, in which case Mohammad Ali Afshanchi, the mayor of Tehran, would have to resign from his position. However, Hassan Rasouli, a member of Tehran City Council, expressed a different view, saying that the chief of staff of the president, the secretary of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and the mayor of Tehran are defined on par with ministers.
The Guardian Council spokesperson, however, did not mention this matter in his explanation and only stated that the prohibition on employing retirees will not include veterans with disability above 50 percent, war survivors with more than three years of service, and children of martyrs.
He added: “In some clauses, exceptions have been made for certain agencies or armed forces, which are subject to their own special laws.”
Mr. Kadkhodaei also told Iran’s state television that “the implementation procedure of this resolution includes a two-month grace period, and organizations and agencies to which this law applies must take action within two months regarding its implementation, and the enforcement guarantee of this law, like other laws, will be criminalization or dismissal from service.”
Members of the Iranian parliament hope that implementing this law will reduce the number of unemployed in the country, but it is still unclear how many retirees will be subject to this law. Additionally, it remains unclear how their replacements will be selected and appointed.
The director of the Iran Statistics Center announced in late last year that the number of “absolutely unemployed” in Iran was 3 million 226 thousand people. The Iran Statistics Center also reported that the unemployment rate in spring of this year was 12.1 percent and stated that this indicator decreased by 0.5 percent compared to spring of last year.
According to these statistics, the country’s unemployed population decreased by 44,958 people in spring of this year and reached 3 million 322 thousand people. Nevertheless, a recent report by the Iran Parliamentary Research Center described the unemployment statistics in the country as “alarming and crisis-prone.”
The report states that the unemployment rate of youth, women, and educated people “is a warning that further highlights the need to change the course of Iran’s economy.”
Source: Radio Farda
