Many have discussed the new social security law over the past few days, which has no connection to realism and does not achieve the hoped-for ambition in the social protection system, but will leave negative repercussions that may hinder the operation of public utilities and official government offices.
The work system of government offices is closely derived from the vigor of the nation's sons, through the efforts of the youth and their quick learning of electronic work, which today is the main focus in the modernization file, amid digital developments witnessed around the world, including artificial intelligence and service automation. This makes it urgent to abandon the traditional working hours system, and focus on part-time and electronic working hours.
All the changes that the public sector needs to keep up with developments differ significantly among public sector employees who have likely passed the age of fifty, due to their insufficient familiarity with the new electronic systems and programs, as a result of their habituation to the traditional work system. And this is a normal matter that falls within the course of life.
And there must be a generational exchange and giving everyone their due, whether through job replacement or recycling positions among various ages on an ongoing basis, in line with developments and reducing the rate of unemployment among the youth.
The amended security law did not raise the years of service required to reach retirement age, but it increased the number of subscriptions required to obtain a decent pension, which forces an employee to work longer years to complete the subscriptions, and this in turn reduces the number of vacancies and job opportunities on one hand, and may reduce the quality and performance of the public sector that needs young hands to keep up with global developments, in addition to the burdens that the amended law will leave on the subscribers.
And many employees will have to work longer years, which narrows job vacancies and opportunities for the youth. Moreover, the government, in the amendments it issued, did not sufficiently consider the lived reality, nor did it take into account the level of alignment with unions and workers, and the presentation of the figures was not clear enough.
In my opinion, the amendments made to the law raise fundamental issues in content. Although the law was enacted correctly, its content may affect rights guaranteed by the Constitution, which are vested rights that should not be lawfully touched as long as they have been settled and the conditions have been met over years of subscriptions, and are originally a legally protected status, where the rules should not be suddenly changed without transitional protection.
On the other hand, the amendments may involve an indirect violation of the principle of non-retroactivity of laws. While it is true that laws do not apply to the past, and that amendments are not implemented with explicit retroactive effect, recalculating previous wages and changing the results of memberships paid previously constitute a convincing retroactive effect, which many scholars see as an evasion of the principle of non-retroactivity.
Finally, the amended law may breach the principle of equality guaranteed by the Constitution, as it may impose early retirees, and private sector workers may be affected more than public sector employees.
