Preamble
The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at Philadelphia by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Twenty-sixth Session on 20 April 1944, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to income security and medical care for persons discharged from the armed forces and assimilated services and from war employment, which is included in the third item on the agenda of the Session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Recommendation,
adopts this twelfth day of May of the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-four, the following Recommendation, which may be cited as the Social Security (Armed Forces) Recommendation, 1944:
Whereas persons discharged from the armed forces and assimilated services have been obliged to interrupt their careers and will be faced with initial expenditure in re-establishing themselves in civil life; and
Whereas persons discharged from the armed forces or assimilated services or from war employment may in certain cases remain unemployed for a time before obtaining suitable employment; and
Whereas it is undesirable that persons discharged from the armed forces and assimilated services should find themselves at a disadvantage in respect of pension insurance as compared with persons who have remained in civil employment, and the Invalidity, Old-Age and Survivors' Insurance Recommendation, 1933, while providing for the maintenance of the rights under pension insurance schemes of persons engaged in military service who were insured before beginning such service, does not provide for the attribution of any rights under such schemes to persons not insured before entering military service; and
Whereas it is desirable that persons discharged from the armed forces and assimilated services should be protected by insurance in respect of sickness occurring between their discharge and their re-establishment in civil life by entry into insurable employment or otherwise; and
Whereas it is necessary to make equitable provision in regard to these matters, without prejudice to the satisfaction of other essential needs, such as those of military and civilian war victims, which must also be a charge on the national income;
The Conference recommends the Members of the Organisation to apply the following principles and to communicate information to the International Labour Office, as requested by the Governing Body, concerning the measures taken to give effect to these principles:
I. Mustering-out Grant
- 1. Persons discharged from the armed forces and assimilated services should, except in cases in which they have, in virtue of national laws or regulations, continued to receive a substantial part of their remuneration, receive on their discharge a special grant, which may be related to their length of service and should be paid in the form of a lump sum, in the form of periodical payments, or partly in the form of a lump sum and partly in the form of periodical payments.
II. Unemployment Insurance and Assistance
- 2. Persons discharged from the armed forces and assimilated services should, so far as is administratively practicable, be treated under unemployment insurance schemes as insured contributors in respect of whom contributions have been paid for a period equal to their period of service. The resulting financial liability should be borne by the State.
- 3. Where persons discharged from the armed forces and assimilated services or from war employment, as defined by national laws or regulations, exhaust their right to benefit before suitable employment is offered to them, or are not covered by an unemployment insurance scheme, an allowance financed wholly from State funds should be paid until suitable employment is available; the allowance should, if possible, be paid irrespective of need.
III. Pension and Sickness Insurance
- 4.
- (1) Where a compulsory insurance scheme providing pensions in case of invalidity, old age or death and covering a substantial part of the working population is in force, periods of service in the armed forces and assimilated services should be reckoned as contribution periods for the purpose of determining whether any requirement in regard to a minimum qualifying period has been fulfilled.
- (2) Where the rate of pension varies with the number of contributions credited to the insured person, the period of service should be taken into account for the purpose of increasing the rate of pension.
- (3) Where contributions are graduated according to remuneration, contributions should be credited in respect of periods of service on the basis of a uniform hypothetical remuneration of reasonable amount: Provided that contributions credited to persons insured immediately before beginning their service may be based on the remuneration which they were receiving at the time if such remuneration was higher than the hypothetical remuneration.
- (4) Persons discharged from the armed forces and assimilated services should retain, during the period between their discharge and the time at which they can be considered to be re-established in civil life, their rights in respect of the contributions credited to their account; these rights should be maintained for a period of not less than twelve months.
- 5.
- (1) Where a compulsory insurance scheme providing sickness, maternity and medical benefits and covering a substantial part of the working population is in force, persons discharged from the armed forces and assimilated services should be entitled to such benefits in respect of sickness or childbirth occurring during the period between their discharge and the time at which they can be considered to be re-established in civil life; these rights should be maintained for a period of not less than twelve months.
- (2) Where the compulsory insurance scheme provides maternity and medical benefits for the dependants of insured persons, discharged persons protected by the scheme should be entitled to such benefits for their dependants.
- (3) Where the rate of sickness benefits is proportional to the remuneration of the insured person, the rate of benefit payable to discharged persons should be based on a uniform hypothetical remuneration of reasonable amount.
- 6.
- (1) The state should bear the liability created by crediting persons serving in the armed forces or assimilated services with pension insurance contributions and insuring them against sickness pending their re-establishment in civil life: Provided that, where the pay of any class of such persons may, having regard to the value of their subsistence and of dependants' allowances, be considered at least equivalent on the whole to the wages prevailing in industry, a portion of the pension insurance contribution may be deducted from their service pay.
- (2) The provisions of subparagraph (1) shall not apply in cases where, in virtue of national laws or regulations, such persons continue to receive, during their service, a substantial part of their remuneration, and the normal contributions required by law continue to be payable in respect of them.
