The Portable Retirement Gratuity Fund (PRGF) is a fund which is established under the Mauritius Workers’ Rights Act 2019 for the purpose of providing for the payment of a gratuity on the death or retirement of an employee, while recognizing the employee’s terms of service irrespective of the number of employers served.

For more information on this fund, click here.

To view the letter from the Ministry of Labour, Human Resource Development and Training, click here.

The PRGF contribution rate is 4.5 % of the monthly remuneration of each worker, paid by the employer. However, Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) will pay PRGF at a lower rate for the first three years. The PRGF rate applicable on monthly remuneration is based on the annual turnover of the SME, which the employer is required to select when filing the PRGF monthly return.

The effective date has been postponed to 1 April 2020.

An employer will be required to pay contributions in respect of eligible employees who are in his employment on 1 January 2020, for the services of those employees from their date of entry to 31 December 2019.

A moratorium period will be granted with a view to alleviating the initial financial burden on employers in respect of those contributions for past services. Contributions for past services can be paid at the end of the term of service of the employee, with the contribution based on the final monthly salary.

The employer has also the option to pay the contribution for past services at any time before the end of the term of service of the employee, in which case the contribution for those past services will be computed based on the last monthly salary as at 1 January 2020.

Reporting

The MRA is responsible for the collection of contributions/payments to the Portable Retirement Gratuity Fund (PRGF). Employers are required to submit, a monthly PRGF return and effect payment in respect of PRGF contributions to the Director-General of the MRA.

The monthly PRGF return can be submitted online by using ‘screen input’ or by using a CSV file.

The CSV file option is compulsory for employers with more than 100 employees in their PRGF return.

A consultation should be arranged to make the necessary adjustments on the system.