The National Social Security Council (CNSS) approved resolution 545-01, which modifies the regime of exceptions for the return of old-age, disability and survival insurance contributions due to late entry, notwithstanding that members are receiving some other benefit contemplated in the insurance.
As of last Monday, June 13, all persons aged 60 or over who entered the Contributory Regime’s Individual Capitalization System late, who have been unemployed for more than 30 days and who are affiliated with a Pension funds (AFP) will be able to opt for the partial or total withdrawal of their accumulated contributions in a simpler way.
A late-entry member is understood to mean a worker who is 45 years old at the time of his or her affiliation to the Pension System. However, with the new resolution, the calculation of the age to be considered as such will change and will begin to be counted from the moment the worker turns 44 years old.
The fact that the Capitalization System delivers funds to late affiliates is not new. But according to the president of the CNSSLuis Miguel De Camps, a regulation was established to “eliminate the bureaucracy that existed” during the application process.
In this sense, De Camps explained that Law 87-01 that created the pension system had some regulations that made it difficult for contributors to access their funds, conditioning the return to the fact that the person is not receiving any other security benefit.
In a press conference, the Minister of Labor stated that the old complementary regulations (resolution 350-02 of 2014) have made the disbursement request process complex and lengthy, a situation that will improve, according to his considerations.
“This problem is not new, this problem is years old, but now those claims have been addressed, and with this resolution it will be helping people to access their pensions in advance,” he explained.
In accordance with Law 87-01, the requirements for those affiliated with the Social Security System to enjoy this benefit are to be 60 years of age or older and have at least 360 contributions.
While the funds to people who are in the final stage of their life due to a terminal illness will be returned as long as they are unemployed, and are in that situation due to a terminal illness duly evaluated and qualified by the Medical Commissions and certified by the Technical Disability Commission, even if they are receiving another benefit within the old-age, disability and survival insurance.
The beneficiaries or their representatives must request the return of their funds through the Pension Fund Administrator to which they are affiliated. The CNSS granted a period of 45 days to the Social Security Treasury (TSS) to make the necessary adjustments, so that the AFPs can validate that the affiliates requesting funds are unemployed. As for the purposes of accessing the funds, the beneficiary may choose to receive them in a single payment or in partial amounts.
