Shafaq News/ The pension law allows the private sector's growth and uplifts working women in Iraq, Mohsen al-Mandalawi, the First Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, said on Wednesday.

"This piece of legislation is a crucial turning point and a monumental step towards enhancing the economic wheel, protecting the private sector workforce, and ensuring their rights on par with their counterparts in the public sector," he said in a press conference attended by the country's labor minister and a group of lawmakers.

Al-Mandalawi said the law serves as a cornerstone for safeguarding workers' rights and stimulating the private sector, which currently employs over five million individuals.

"The legislation ensures an expansion of coverage by introducing an optional retirement insurance and heeding labor service in the public sector when considering bonuses, promotions, and retirement," he said.

The law, according to the deputy speaker, allows workers to purchase services that their current retirement does not support.

"It also allows optional retirement and transferring pensions to heirs upon a retiree's passing," he continued, "the law approves annual cost-of-living allowances tied to inflation, in addition to pension raises."

Al-Mandalawi confirmed that the new law would confer working women in the private sector a larger share of benefits, including "comprehensive privileges such as fully paid maternity leave and a plethora of other advantages encapsulated within this seminal legislation."