Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

15.   Gratuity where officer dies in service or after retirement

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   (1)   Where an officer holding a pensionable office who is not on probation or agreement, or any officer holding a non-pensionable office to which he or she has been transferred from a pensionable office in which he or she has been confirmed, dies while in public service under the Government of Saint Lucia, the Governor General may grant to his or her legal personal representative a gratuity of an amount not exceeding 1¹/₂ his or her annual pensionable emoluments or his or her commuted pension gratuity, if any, whichever is the greater.

However, for the purposes of this section an officer who is holding a pensionable office and is on probation and who dies in the circumstances mentioned in section 16(1) is considered to have been confirmed in his or her office.

(Amended by Act 7 of 1976)

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   (2)   Where an officer dies after retirement from public service under the Government of Saint Lucia having been granted, or having become eligible for, a pension under this Act and the sums paid or payable to him or her at the date of his or her death on account of such pension including any sum awarded by way of gratuity under regulation 25 of the Pensions Regulations contained in Schedule 1 to this Act, and any pension or gratuity paid or payable in respect of his or her service under any Scheduled Government (as defined in regulation 8 of the Pensions Regulations contained in Schedule 1 to this Act) but excluding any additional pensions awarded in accordance with the provisions of regulation 23(3)(b) of the Pensions Regulations contained in Schedule 1 to this Act, are less in total than the amount of his or her annual pensionable emoluments, the Governor General may grant a gratuity equal to the deficiency to his or her legal personal representative.

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   (3)   The provisions of this section shall not apply in the case of the death of any officer where benefits corresponding to the benefits which may be granted under this section are payable under the Overseas Superannuation Scheme in respect of such death or in the case of the death of an officer to whom section 16 applies.

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   (4)   In this section—

“annual pensionable emoluments” means the emoluments taken for the purpose of computing any pension or gratuity granted to the officer under this Act or in the case of such officer as is described in subsection (1), the emoluments which would have been taken in accordance with regulation 18 of the Pensions Regulations contained in Schedule 1 to this Act, for the purpose of computing the pension or gratuity that would have been granted to the officer if, on the day following the date of his or her death, he or she had retired from the public service in circumstances which enabled such a grant to be made;

“commuted pension gratuity” means the gratuity, if any, which might have been granted to the officer under regulation 25 of the Pensions Regulations contained in Schedule 1 to this Act, if the pensionable service which would be taken for the purpose of computing any pension or gratuity granted to him or her under this Act had been wholly under the Government of Saint Lucia and if on the day following the date of his or her death he or she had retired from the public service in the circumstances which enabled the grant of a pension to be made and had elected to receive a gratuity and reduced pension.

However, in determining the amount of the gratuity which might have been granted to the officer under regulation 25 of the Pensions Regulations contained in Schedule 1 to this Act, no regard shall be had to regulation 4(2) of those Pensions Regulations.