Maybank Singapore has inked a new re-employment agreement with its staff unions, promising to give a one-off payment to older employees who cannot be re-hired beyond the retirement age of 62.

The bank will also end the practice of cutting the pay of workers when they turn 60.

Maybank Singapore made these pledges in an agreement it signed on Friday with the Singapore Bank Employees’ Union and the Singapore Bank Officers’ Association.

The agreement makes Maybank the first among some 30 unionised banks here to adopt some of the key proposals in a set of draft guidelines announced earlier this week on the re-hiring of workers after retirement. The one-off Employment Assistance Payment (EAP) is one of the main proposals, which was announced on Monday for public feedback.

The proposed guidelines are to help companies implement norms and processes for re-employment of their older workers, ahead of a new re-employment law to be implemented by 2012. The law will make it compulsory for employers to offer to re-hire workers beyond 62, first to 65 and then later to 67.

The signing at the Maybank Tower was witnessed by Mr Heng Chee How, deputy secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress and Ms Pollie Sim, the bank’s country head. — Straits Times