PRIME MINISTERIAL EDICT NO. 15/1983 WITH RESPECT TO DETERMINING AN INCREASE OF PENSIONS OF BENEFICIARIES AND SHARES OF ELIGIBLE HEIRS SUBJECT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE LAW ON SOCIAL INSURANCE PROMULGATED BY AMIRI DECREE-LAW NO. 24 OF 1976*

The Acting Prime Minister:

Having examined Article 16 of the Social Insurance Law promulgated by Amiri Decree-Law No. 24 of 1976; And Decree-Law No. 8 of 1980 with respect to determining an increase of pensions of beneficiaries and that of the eligible heirs in various sectors; And upon the submission of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs; And with the approval of the Council of Ministers; HEREBY ORDERS THE FOLLOWING :

Article 1

The minimum pension payable to workers subject to the Social Insurance Law shall be BD. 52/- per month for a beneficiary and BD. 10.500 per month for each of the eligible heirs and this increase shall not apply to a beneficiary or an eligible heir whose pension or share thereof has been raised above this level in pursuance of the above-mentioned Decree-Law No. 8 of 1980 unless the increase in the said minimum is more favourable thereto in which case the increase of the minimum shall only apply thereupon and shall not benefit from the provisions of Decree-Law No. 8 of 1980.

Article 2

Pensions payable to beneficiaries and to eligible heirs shall, upon applying the increase set forth in the Article 1, be increased at the rate of 8% so that a beneficiary's pension or that of an eligible heir shall include the allowance prescribed under the aforementioned Decree-Law No. 8 of 1980, provided that the one fils shall be rounded up to 100 fils. This recent increase shall be payable with the proviso that pensions shall not exceed the maximum set forth in the Social Insurance Law promulgated by Amiri Decree-Law No. 24 of 1976.

Article 3

Where pensions payable to beneficiaries and shares of pension to eligible heirs are equally divided between the beneficiary and his eligible heirs and thus the share of each is less than BD. 10,500 including the surviving beneficiary himself or less than the prescribed ratios after his death, the amount of the share of each of the aforementioned shall be completed to the said minimum even if the total exceeds the beneficiary's determined pension or if the total of shares including that of the beneficiary himself exceeds the maximum pension set forth in the Social Insurance Law; and the additional amount shall be deemed in all cases as a family allowance to the beneficiary and to eligible heirs and its payment shall continue so long as conditions of payment are fulfilled whether during the life of the beneficiary or after his death.

Article 4
Financial obligations arising from the implementation of this Edict shall be borne by the General Organisation for Social Insurance.

Article 5

This Edict shall come into force as from 1 January 1983 and be effective as from this date.

Article 6

The General Organisation for Social Insurance shall implement this Edict which shall be published in the Official Gazette.

Khalifa bin Sulman Al Khalifa Prime Minister

Dated: 12 Ramadan 1403 22 June 1983
*Published in the Official Gazette No. 1546 dated 30 June 1983. ** The minimum pension is raised from BD. 52 monthly to BD. 80/- by Prime Ministerial Edict No. 11 of 1989; also the minimum of the beneficiaries share of the pension is raised from BD. 10/500 monthly to BD. 15/-. The minimum pension was raised to BD. 115/- by Prime Ministerial Edict No. 9 of 1993 together with the minimum of beneficiary share from BD. 15/- to BD 20/-. Those minimum were further increased to BD. 135/- and BD. 25/- respectively, by Prime Ministerial Edict No. 17 of 1998.