Review of Civil Service Retirement Laws in Iranian Law and Their Examination in American and French Law

Abstract

In Iran, there are diverse employment laws and regulations for different groups. Employees working in ministries, governmental institutions, municipalities and their affiliated organizations, as well as individuals engaged in self-employment, are members of one of the retirement funds in terms of retirement structure and coverage according to the existing regulations. Among these, the Civil Service Pension Fund and the Social Security Fund have the largest number of members depending on the employing organization. The Social Security Fund has extensive coverage due to the broad range of human resources included within its scope. Accordingly, this fund has admitted various occupational groups, including self-employed professions, whereas the Civil Service Pension Fund has exclusively accepted only a portion of official government employees and is responsible solely for providing insurance and retirement services to this specific group. Therefore, its scope of coverage is certainly more limited than that of the Social Security Fund, because the services provided by the Social Security system cover workers, agricultural employees, administrative personnel, and self-employed individuals in general, thereby granting it a broader scope of coverage and retirement services. In the United States, retirement is addressed through numerous laws across the 50 states. In addition, most retirement plans are provided by private legal entities in the form of a commercial insurance system. In all these programs, the definitions of worker, employee, and the prescribed age requirements follow a unified framework. These programs have expanded significantly over the past half-century, and since 2000, a shift has been observed from defined benefit plans toward defined contribution plans. The French system is almost entirely based on compulsory social insurance, operating on a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) basis. This choice is rooted in historical reasons, as the previous retirement system established in the nineteenth century, which was based on funded arrangements, encountered financial and monetary difficulties and crises during the 1920s, 1930s, and the years of World War II. In 1945, the PAYG method was recognized as a safer approach for financing pensions. Therefore, this study aims to examine civil service retirement laws in Iranian law and compare them with American and French legal systems using a descriptive-analytical method.