Iraqi parliament passes law letting state employees take five-year leave on base salary

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s parliament on Sunday passed a law allowing government employees to take extended leave of five years or more while continuing to draw their base salaries, the parliamentary media office said.

The law is meant to let public employees take long breaks from government service without giving up their posts. Permanent employees with at least one year of actual service could request long-term leave while keeping their base salary, lawmaker Bassem Khudair Kadhim al-Ghurabi told the state-run Al-Sabah newspaper. They could end their leave after completing at least half of it without having to repay the salary received while away, he said.

The terms Ghurabi described are more generous than those in the version that passed its first reading on Aug. 11, which offered half the base salary for leave of five years or more and required employees who returned before completing half their leave to repay what they had received. That draft also allowed employees to work in the private sector during their leave, subject to government regulations, provided for unpaid leave of six months or more, counted extended leave toward retirement once pension contributions were paid and extended eligibility to contract employees.

The parliamentary announcement did not include the final text, so it is unclear exactly what salary terms were approved and which of the earlier provisions were kept. Ahead of Sunday’s session, lawmakers also called for amendments to the retirement law to be prioritized alongside other measures affecting public-sector employees.

The law must be ratified by the president and published in the Official Gazette before taking effect.