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Circular issued for no-pay overseas employment leave

23 Jun 2022

The Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils, and Local Government issued a circular yesterday (22) detailing the conditions for the Government’s new policy to grant no-pay leave to officers who wish to work abroad, one of which states that they are required to formally remit money through the Sri Lankan banking system. Speaking at a media briefing held yesterday, Ministry Secretary M.P.K. Mayadunne said that the circular follows Cabinet of Ministers approval being granted for a policy decision taken last week to allow workers in the public sector to migrate abroad on no pay leave without that period overseas affecting their level of seniority or their pension.  “Workers have always had a need to work abroad but they have had a consistent request to ensure that their seniority and pension won’t be affected. That is why this policy decision was taken. The circular states that it applies for those who want to ‘spend it in or out of the country’ as the former applies for those who want to complete their training required for foreign employment within Sri Lanka. This circular applies to those who are on probation as they are allowed to complete their probationary period after returning,” said Mayadunne.  Thus, Circular 14/2022, published yesterday, states that “every officer who goes abroad as per the provisions of this circular is required to formally remit money in the following manner through the Sri Lankan banking system to a Non-Resident Foreign Currency Account (NRFC) opened in their own name”. “When the officer is employed abroad, the following amounts: (i) officers of the primary service category -- monthly – $ 100; (ii) officers of the secondary service category – monthly – $ 200; (iii) officers of the tertiary service category – monthly – $ 300; and (iv) officers of the executive service category – monthly – $ 500, or 25% of the salary earned from the employment, can be remitted. A concessionary period of two months from the date of departure shall be given for the remittances, and remittances must be made from the third month onwards.” The circular further states that officers are able to take no-pay leave for a maximum period of five years without it affecting their seniority or pension while also putting forth a number of other conditions.  The statement by the Department of Government Information on 14 June said that the aforementioned policy decision was granted Cabinet approval “considering the prevailing economic crisis of the country”.


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