Singapore legislation
Section 20
Section 20
Gratuity where officer dies in service
(1)
Where an officer dies in the public service in Singapore, there shall be paid to such of the officer’s dependants as the relevant Pension Authority may think fit, or if there are no dependants, to the officer’s legal personal representative, a gratuity —
in the case of an officer holding a pensionable office who has not exercised an option mentioned in section 6(3), of an amount equal to one of the following capital sums:
where the officer has attained the minimum age at the time of the officer’s death — an amount ascertained by multiplying the relevant commutation factor by the amount of such pension that may have been granted to the officer under this Act if the officer had retired on the date of the officer’s death in the circumstances described in section 11(2)(c);
where the officer has not attained the minimum age at the time of the officer’s death — the amount ascertained in accordance with sub‑paragraph (i), from which amount there must be a discount at the relevant discount rate in respect of each year or part thereof falling between the date of the officer’s death and the date he or she would have attained his or her minimum age had the officer not died (both dates inclusive),but that gratuity must in no case be less than one year’s pensionable emoluments;
in the case of a Gurkha serving in the Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force, of an amount equal to 1/120 of one year’s pensionable emoluments for each complete month of service but such gratuity must not be less than one year’s or more than 3 years’ pensionable emoluments;
in the case of an officer holding a pensionable office who has exercised an option mentioned in section 6(3), of an amount equal to one year’s salary as at the date immediately prior to the officer’s option taking effect or the commuted pension gratuity which might have been granted to the officer if the officer had retired at the date of the officer’s death in the circumstances described in section 11(2)(c), whichever is the greater; or
in any other case, of an amount equal to one year’s salary or the officer’s commuted annual allowance gratuity, whichever is the greater.
(2)
Where —
an officer who has retired from the public service in Singapore dies within one year of his or her retirement; or
a retired officer, being an officer who opted under any regulations made under this Act to receive a full pension without any gratuity and whose pension had been suspended under section 11(4), dies within one year of his or her pension taking effect,there shall be paid to such of his or her dependants as the relevant Pension Authority may think fit, or if there are no dependants, to his or her legal personal representative, a gratuity of an amount equal to —
in the case of an officer holding a pensionable office who has not exercised an option mentioned in section 6(3) — one year’s pensionable emoluments; and
in any other case — one year’s salary,from which gratuity there must be deducted the amount of the gratuity (if any) which has been paid or is payable under this Act and any payment or payments of pension or allowance, other than any allowance granted in respect of an injury, which may already have been made.
(3)
Despite subsection (2), where an officer whose pension, gratuity or other allowance is suspended under section 11(4) dies before his or her pension, gratuity or allowance takes effect (whether or not within one year of his or her retirement), there shall be paid to such of his or her dependants as the relevant Pension Authority may think fit, or if there are no dependants, to his or her legal personal representative, a gratuity of an amount ascertained by multiplying the relevant commutation factor by the amount of the pension that may have been granted to the officer under this Act, from which amount there must be a discount at the relevant discount rate in respect of each year or part thereof falling between the date he or she would have attained his or her minimum age had he or she not died and the date of his or her death (both dates inclusive) but that gratuity must in no case be less than one year’s pensionable emoluments.
(4)
In this section —
Definition
“commutation factor” means 175.14 or such other factor as the President, by order in the Gazette, prescribes in variation thereof;
Definition
“commuted annual allowance gratuity” means the gratuity which might have been granted to the officer under any regulation providing for the grant of a reduced annual allowance and a gratuity, if the officer’s public service had been wholly in Singapore and if he or she had retired at the date of his or her death in the circumstances described in section 11(2)(c); and for the purpose of calculating the same the officer is deemed to have elected to be paid an annual allowance at the rate of three‑fourths of the annual allowance granted to the officer;
Definition
“discount rate” means 5% or such other rate as the President, by order in the Gazette, prescribes in variation thereof;
Definition
“minimum age” has the meaning given by section 11(6);
Definition
“one year’s salary” means the emoluments which would be taken for the purpose of computing any allowance or gratuity, or in the case of an officer holding a pensionable office who has exercised an option mentioned in section 6(3) any pension, which may be granted to the officer if he or she had retired at the date of his or her death in the circumstances described in section 11(2)(c);
Definition
“pensionable emoluments”, in relation to an officer who had exercised an option mentioned in section 6(3), means the officer’s pensionable emoluments at the date immediately prior to his or her option taking effect;
Definition
“relevant commutation factor” and “relevant discount rate”, in relation to an officer or a retired officer, mean the commutation factor and discount rate, respectively, in force on either the date of the officer’s death or his or her appointment to the public service in Singapore, whichever is the more favourable; and for this purpose, all officers appointed to the public service in Singapore before 1 January 1995 shall be deemed to be appointed to the public service in Singapore on that date.
(5)
This section applies to all officers appointed to the public service in Singapore, whether appointed before or after 1 April 1986, but not a Supreme Court Judge, an Attorney‑General, an Auditor‑General, a Deputy Attorney‑General or a member of the Public Service Commission who is eligible to be granted a death gratuity under any other written law.