Govt. issues circular to send State workers for foreign employment 

The Government this week issued the cir-cular to allow State sector workers to take up overseas employment opportunities to boost foreign inflows.

On 13 June, the Cabinet of Ministers cleared to enable public officers to take no-pay leave without any hindrance to seniority, pension, or other conditions.

The Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils, and Local Government Ministry said the provisions of this circular will be effective from yesterday. 

A State sector employee is entitled to a maximum of five years of no-pay leave during his tenure for study or foreign employment. However, the majority of public sector workers showed no interest in obtaining such leave due to the non-inclusion of that period in the calculation of pensions, impact on seniority, and other conditions.

Under the new provisions, it has been decided to grant no-pay leave for public sector officers for them to be here or overseas under special provisions, deviating from the provisions existing in the Establishments Code that allow no-pay leave. 

The State workers are now able to obtain no-pay leave for a total period of five years, as the maximum period, to be able to make it applicable to their seniority and pension.

To engage in employment in a foreign institution, the officer should obtain approval for no-pay leave to remain here or travel overseas using proper channels by submitting particulars of the jobs in which the officer expects to engage in a particular foreign country during the period of the availed no-pay leave and all other relevant details to the authority for getting their request approved.

In addition, public sector officers below the age of 35 can obtain no-pay leave for a maximum of one year to develop their IT skills, knowledge of the English language or any other language, or to complete a vocational training program at a recognised institution.

Earlier this month, Cabinet Co-Spokesman and Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara said a program has been introduced to generate foreign exchange with the intervention of the Ministry, and State employees will be granted the opportunity to leave for employment overseas.

In the first five month of this year workers remittances were down 53% to $ 1.33 billion. In May, workers’ remittances were $ 304 million, up from $ 249 million in April, but lower by 34% compared with $ 460.1 million a year ago.