WILLEMSTAD – The Curaçao government was warned as early as 2020 about a flaw in the country's pension legislation that could deny former civil servants access to early retirement benefits, but failed to correct the problem for years, according to a report by the Ombudsman.
The report reveals that the General Pension Fund of Curaçao (APC) formally alerted the government on November 5, 2020, after identifying what appears to be a legislative omission affecting former government employees who left public service before reaching retirement age.
The issue centers on transitional provisions introduced when the statutory retirement age was increased from 60 to 65.
To soften the impact of that reform, lawmakers included Article 110c in the National Pension Ordinance, allowing certain public servants to retire from age 60 with a reduction of six percent for each year they retire early.
However, according to the Ombudsman's findings, the article explicitly refers only to government employees and does not mention former government employees who have already left public service before applying for retirement benefits.
The APC flagged this omission to the government and, a year later, legal advisors recommended amending the legislation. They also advised that, pending a formal legislative change, the pension fund should already begin paying benefits to those entitled under the intended interpretation of the law.
Despite those recommendations, no corrective legislation has been enacted.
The Ombudsman noted that the legislative defect has remained unresolved for nearly five years, leaving at least one former government employee unable to receive the pension benefits he expected based on information previously provided by APC.
According to the report, the affected individual entered government service in 1985 and left in 2020 after 35 years. His pension statement indicated he would be eligible to retire at age 60. When he applied, however, APC rejected the request because of the legal uncertainty created by the wording of the law.
The Ombudsman emphasized that the problem may extend beyond this individual case.
Because the government has not addressed the legislative gap, other former public servants who left government employment before turning 60 could face the same uncertainty regarding their retirement rights.
The report criticizes the Ministry of Governance, Planning and Public Service for failing to respond to the complainant's requests and for not acting on repeated reminders. It concludes that the minister failed to act diligently despite being aware of the issue for years.
The Ombudsman has given the minister eight weeks to issue a formal decision on the complaint and address the outstanding pension dispute, while urging the government to finally resolve the legislative omission that has remained uncorrected since 2020.