Abu Dhabi, 22nd May 2023: His Excellency Mohammed Khalifa Al Zeyoudi, Director of Human Resources Department in the Government of Fujairah, hosted portable majlis visits to various community councils, government and/or private entities across Fujairah in order to raise awareness on services and projects launched by the General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA).
During the visits, employees in human resources departments learnt more about Shourak, one of GPSSA’s transformational projects launched earlier this month, and were given the opportunity to learn more about its implementation mechanisms and procedures, as well as ask any questions they’d like regarding Shourak, which was introduced to encourage insured members to opt to merging their employment service years in the event of changing jobs, without having to incur additional costs.
Attendees at the majlis included His Excellency Mohammed Khalifa Al Zeyoudi, Director of Human Resources Department in the Government of Fujairah; Hind Al Suwaidi, Acting Executive Director for GPSSA’s Pension Sector and Benefits Management Department Head; Mohamed Saqer Al Hammadi, Pension Operations Department Head and a number of employees from various governmental entities in the Emirate.
His Excellency Al Zeyoudi affirmed the fact that the Human Resources Department in the Government of Fujairah aims to overlook national projects and developments launched by UAE based authorities, especially those related to employers. He explained that the Human Resources Department in the Government of Fujairah continuously collaborates with the GPSSA in raising the level of awareness amongst insured individuals and employers regarding insurance, retirement and pension, which contributes to enhancing the overall quality of work amongst employees, while ensuring they receive some of the best insurance benefits.
Hind Al Suwaidi, Acting Executive Director for GPSSA’s Pension Sector and Benefits Management Department Head, explained that such meetings offer the GPSSA an opportunity to meet with entities and transfer accurate knowledge about the provisions of the UAE Pension Law, and update them on various projects that emerge from time to time, such as Shourak, which is considered GPSSA’s latest transformational projects that has been launched as part of federal government agency performance agreements in 2022 to offer insured persons the choice to merge their previous and subsequent years of employment service and not disburse the previous end-of-service benefits, in which case no additional costs will arise and they will benefit at the end.
Al Suwaidi emphasized the fact that all Emiratis employed in government and private sector are able to implement Shourak as of July 1st 2013, noting that Shourak does not apply to previous service periods prior to that date, nor is a pensioner who has already received his/her pension entitled. Additionally, Shourak does not apply to those who have worked less than one year, nor to employees transferring from another pension fund, since it only includes those covered under GPSSA’s umbrella and are subject to the UAE Pension Law. However, it is still possible to benefit from exchanging benefits from one pension fund to another if both the insured’s entities agrees to the merge, and that the employer to whom the insured is transferred to covers the merge cost.
Mohamed Saqer Al Hammadi, Pension Operations Department Head spoke about the mechanism involved in order to obtain Shourak, which includes the insured person signing an acknowledgment form at the end of his/her service period, stating that the end-of-service gratuity will not be paid due to the fact that the insured is joining a new entity within six months from that date. The signed acknowledgement form must be submitted within a month from joining the new entity. If the insured does not submit the request within the one-month time frame, the merge request is voluntarily withdrawn. Also, the merge procedures do not apply to individuals aged 60 years, or who pass away before completing the process.
It is worth mentioning that the portable majlis is a project launched by the Government Communications Office at the GPSSA with the objective of increasing awareness regarding the UAE Pension Law amongst community councils, government and private authorities, while introducing GPSSA’s services and updating the public on some of the latest and most prominent projects