Riobamba replaces ordinance and updates employer retirement benefits for former workers

The Municipal Council of the Riobamba Canton approved Ordinance No. 024-2026, which regulates the payment of employer retirement benefits to former employees of the Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Government of the Riobamba Canton and replaces the regulation in effect since 2002. The provision was sanctioned by Mayor John Henry Vinueza Salinas on September 23, 2026, and published in the Official Registry Special Edition No. 1684 on Thursday, October 8, 2026, on page 2.

The new ordinance repeals Ordinances Nos. 006-2002 and 002-2006, which regulated the payment of employer retirement benefits to former workers of the I. Municipality of the Riobamba canton. Ordinance 002-2006, approved on February 24, 2006, had set the benefit at a fixed value of USD 40.00, an amount that the statement of motives describes as static and outdated relative to the socioeconomic reality of the country.

The change responds to Resolution No. 19-2024 of the Plenary of the National Court of Justice, dated October 2, 2024, which declared a mandatory jurisprudential precedent that provincial and municipal autonomous decentralized governments apply all the rules of Article 216 of the Labor Code for the calculation of the retirement pension, limiting their regulatory power to the maximum ceilings of the monthly pension.

Scope and amount of the benefit

The ordinance is of mandatory application for former employees of the GADMCR subject to the labor regime of the Labor Code who have provided services for twenty-five years or more, whether continuously or intermittently.

The monthly amount will no longer be a fixed value: it will be the equivalent of the calculation resulting from the application of numeral 1, literals a) and b), of Article 216 of the Labor Code. The GADMCR must allocate the necessary resources in its General Budget, as considered in the Annual Operating Plans of the General Directorate of Human Talent Management.

Procedure and payment to heirs

Article 5 establishes a six-step procedure:

• The General Directorate of Human Talent Management verifies which workers meet the requirements.
• The worker submits their voluntary resignation and their decision to opt for the monthly employer retirement benefit.
• In an assembly with the eligible workers, the order of priority is established.
• The Monthly Employer Retirement Act is sent to the General Directorate of Financial Management to certify the availability of funds.
• Payment is made to the beneficiary’s individual account through the public sector payment system.
• The voucher and the Individual Monthly Employer Retirement Act are incorporated into the former worker’s file, with an original copy for the beneficiary.

In the event of the death of the former employee receiving the pension, their heirs shall receive payment for one year, in accordance with the common provisions on occupational risk indemnities.

Progressive Leveling and Differences

For those who had already availed themselves of the benefit prior to the regulation coming into effect, the application of the first rule of Article 216 shall be progressive until the established amount is reached, according to the payment agreements signed and budgetary availability. The municipality may use State bonds for the payment of the retirement pension.

The Sole Transitory Provision recognizes, on this occasion, the payment of the difference resulting from the increase in the monthly employer-funded retirement pension from the date of the former employee’s separation. To access this, the retiree must submit their request to the Mayor, accompanied by the calculation performed by the Ministry of Labor; subsequently, the General Directorate of Human Talent Management will issue a report, and the General Financial Directorate will calculate the difference and issue the budgetary allocation.

The regulation directly benefits municipal former employees and their families, who for nearly two decades received a pension frozen at USD 40.00. By aligning the calculation with the Labor Code and retroactively recognizing the differences since separation, the GADMCR regularizes its situation in light of the mandatory precedent of the National Court of Justice and improves the quality of life of its former servants in retirement.

Source: Official Registry Special Edition No. 1684, Thursday, October 8, 2026, Section I (Decentralized Autonomous Governments – Municipal Ordinances), p. 2 (official reference: Ordinance No. 024-2026).