Overview:
A new bill introduced in the Palau Senate seeks to restore 30 years of government service as a pathway to retirement eligibility, even for employees under age 60. The measure, led by Sen. Mark Rudimch, also proposes earlier retirement for workers in physically demanding public safety roles, signaling a renewed push to recognize long-term service while balancing pension sustainability.
Measure allows early retirement with reduced benefits, includes 25-year option for high-risk public safety roles
By: Eoghan Olkeriil Ngirudelsang
NGERULMUD, Palau (April 2, 2026) – A bill to re-establish the 30 years’ service as a retirement eligibility threshold and 25 years for ‘strenuous public safety positions’ despite the 60 years retirement age requirement was introduced by Senator Mark Rudimch on Wednesday Senate session.
Senate Bill No. 12-61 will make employees who have not yet reached the 60-year-old retirement threshold but have completed 30 years of service to the government eligible to retire and receive retirement benefits under the Civil Service Pension Plan.
The bill also seeks to establish an earlier eligibility for employees of strenuous public safety positions, enabling them to retire after 25 years of service. Strenuous public safety positions are defined as those requiring sustained physical exertion, regular exposure to hazardous, dangerous, or high-risk conditions as an essential and recurring function of the job, such as law enforcement officers, fire and rescue personnel, or other comparable positions to be determined by the director of the Bureau of the Public Service System.
The bill states that long-term public service warrants recognition and that retirement policy should not operate in a manner that effectively compels continued employment to access earned pension benefits.
During the session, Rudimch said that “the purpose of the bill will give people in positions that require constant physical activity the chance to retire early”.
The bill specifically addressed retirement eligibility for pension benefits but was silent on Social Security retirement benefits. It states that those who will retire based on years of service rather than the retirement age will receive reduced retirement benefits, whereas those who retire by service but defer receiving pension benefits until they are 60 will receive full, unreduced retirement benefits.
The bill mandates that such reduced benefits shall be determined by an actuarial study, which will calculate an actuarial present value of the reduced benefit to be equivalent to the actuarial present value of an unreduced benefit payable to the employee had he commenced receiving pension benefits at sixty.
The bill passed its first reading alongside the major pension reform bill to completely reform the Civil Service Pension Plan.
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