Social Security

The National Social Security Fund is an independent institution supervised by the Minister of Labor, and is composed of three funds: Sickness and Maternity Allowance Fund, Family Allowance Fund and End-of-Service Indemnity Fund. Law 128 issued in 2010 allowed Palestinian employees to benefit from the end-of-service indemnity only, and deprived them of the hospitalization, sickness and maternity allowances, as the legislator considered back then that refugees are benefitting from the hospitalization, sickness and maternity services provided by UNRWA.

On August 17, 2010, the Lebanese Parliament promulgated law 128, amending the Social Security Law relating to the how Palestinian workers residing in Lebanon and registered with the DPAR at the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities benefit from the allowances of the funds. The most important points stipulated by the amendment are:

Annulling the reciprocity condition;

Setting up a separate and independent account for the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) for the subscriptions of Palestinian workers, provided that neither the Treasury nor the NSSF are held accountable for any financial commitment related thereto;

Palestinian workers are to benefit from the end-of-service indemnity and workmen compensation;

Palestinian workers are excluded from the sickness, maternity and familial allowances.

For the implementation of this amendment, the office of the NSSF’s board of directors issued an informational memorandum bearing the number 437 on May 23, 2011, which stipulates that “Palestine refugees working in Lebanon shall be subject to and covered by the provisions of the Social Security Law”. The key provisions of this memorandum are as follows:

Subject to the provisions governing the implementation of the Social Security Law, the Palestinian refugee working on Lebanese soil shall be subject to the end-of-service indemnity, provided that:

He is residing in Lebanon;

He is registered with the DPAR at the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities; He is associated with one or several employers;

He holds a work permit according to the laws and regulations in force.

The Palestinian refugee working in Lebanon, who meets all the conditions provided for in (1), may firstly benefit from the allowances of the end-of-service indemnity under the same conditions from which the Lebanese workers benefit, and is exempted from the reciprocity principle, as stipulated in paragraph 3 of this memorandum.

The persons covered by the provisions of law no. 128 do not benefit from the maternity, sickness and family allowances.

The end-of-service indemnities are settled to those covered, according to the legal and regulatory provisions in force, knowing that the NSSF and the Treasury do not assume any financial commitments or obligations towards them.

A rate of 23.5 per cent shall be paid to the Fund, and is distributed as follows:

• 9 per cent to the maternity and sickness allowances (7 per cent by the employer and 2 per cent by the employee)
• 6 per cent to the family allowances (by the employer)
• 8 per cent to the end-of-service indemnity (by the employer)
• 0.5 per cent to the administration of the fund (by the employer).

The internal measures applied within the board of directors of the Social Security interpreted the laws in force as stipulating that the employer of a Palestinian worker has to pay 23.5 per cent of the employee’s salary (i.e. the full contribution to the three social security branches, just like the Lebanese worker). However, the Palestinian worker only benefits from the

end-of-service indemnity, the contribution of which amounts to 8 per cent only. This issue has blocked the implementation of law no. 128 on the practical level. On a general level, it is evident that the number of Palestinian refugees benefitting from the end-of-service indemnity fund is quite limited, which denotes a pending problem, despite the acknowledgement of the need to grant Palestinian refugees work permits, following the legal benefits that they were granted in accordance with law 129.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC) has addressed the issue of social security coverage for Palestinian refugee workers with particular attention, in light of the legislative amendment introduced by Law No. 128 of 2010 to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) framework. This amendment allowed Palestinian employees to benefit exclusively from the End-of-Service Indemnity Fund, while excluding them from the Sickness and Maternity Fund and hospitalization benefits, on the basis that Palestinian refugees were, at the time, considered to be benefiting from health services provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Within this context, the LPDC’s prioritization of this issue was clearly reflected in the recommendations submitted by the Working Group on Palestinian Refugee Affairs during its official visit to then Prime Minister Tammam Salam on 24 June 2015. These recommendations called for limiting the employer’s contribution to the National Social Security Fund for Palestinian refugee workers to 8.5% of the employee’s wage, instead of the 23.5% applied to Lebanese workers. This recommendation was grounded in the existing legal reality whereby Palestinian refugee workers are entitled solely to the End-of-Service Indemnity, for which the employer’s statutory contribution amounts to 8.5%, while no corresponding benefits are granted in return for contributions to the remaining social security funds.