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Getting fired or laid off is perhaps one of the most terrible situations that an employee might experience. When employees suddenly lose their jobs, they have to find ways to hurdle their financial challenges to continue supporting their family while overcoming the mental and emotional trauma of sudden unemployment.
How protected are Filipinos employed in the private sector from the contingency of involuntary separation?
The Philippine Statistics Authority recorded unemployment rate in January 2019 at 5.2 percent. There are a number of reasons for getting laid off from work. One could be due to the closure of a company. Or, calamities and economic slowdown could have forced the company to cease operation.
In the past, employees are not protected from involuntarily separation.
But now, the Social Security System’s (SSS) newest offering—unemployment or involuntary separation benefit—provides added protection to private sector employees. This new provision under the newly enacted Republic Act 11199 or Social Security Act of 2018 aims to provide involuntarily separated employees with financial assistance to support themselves and their families while they are looking for a new job.
The Philippines is one of the countries in Asia that offers unemployment insurance. Other countries in the region that give protection to the unemployed are Japan, China, and Thailand.
SSS covered employees, kasambahay, and overseas Filipino workers can avail themselves of unemployment benefit, an added layer of social security protection.
The pension fund has started accepting applications for unemployment benefit last week.
Qualified member-applicants may be granted a cash benefit of half of their average monthly salary credit (AMSC) for a maximum of two months.
To illustrate, a member earning
P10,000 per month who was involuntarily separated from employment may be
granted a cash assistance of half of his AMSC, which is P5,000 per month or a
total of P10,000 of unemployment benefit for a
maximum of two months.
To qualify for this benefit, the covered employee must not be more than 60 years old at the time of involuntary separation, while underground and surface mine worker, and racehorse jockey members must not be older than 50 and 55 years old, respectively.
The member must have also paid at least 36 monthly contributions, 12 months of which should have been made in the 18-month period immediately preceding the month of involuntary separation. They must also have no settled unemployment benefit within the last three years prior to the date of involuntary separation.
Unemployment insurance only applies to employees involuntary separated from work without fault. These include installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy, retrenchment, closure of operation, disease or illness. Employees who lost their jobs due to negligence cannot avail themselves of this benefit.
One of the documents that must be submitted to avail of unemployment benefit is a certification from the Department of Labor and Employment to confirm involuntary separation.
Qualified member-applicant may only file for this said benefit once every three years from the date of involuntary separation. They may file their claims at any SSS branch or foreign office.
With SSS’ unemployment insurance, we hope to alleviate the financial and emotional burden of employees who suddenly lost their jobs by providing them with temporary financial aid while they try to start anew.
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Aurora C. Ignacio is SSS president and chief executive officer.
We welcome your questions and insights on the topics that we discuss. E-mail mediaaffairs@sss.gov.ph for topics that you might want us to discuss.