Can people who voluntarily pay social insurance and quit their jobs for personal reasons receive unemployment insurance?

* Ms. Le Thi Thuy, a worker at a textile company in Vinh City, has paid voluntary social insurance for 2 years, then started working at the company and had her social insurance book transferred to pay compulsory social insurance; now she is on maternity leave and raising a young child and does not want to go to work, so how will she enjoy social insurance benefits?

- Answer: According to Article 4, Decree 190/2007/ND-CP dated December 28, 2007, guiding a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance on voluntary social insurance, voluntary social insurance is implemented on the basis of the participants' voluntariness. Voluntary social insurance participants can choose the contribution level and payment method suitable to their income to later enjoy retirement and death benefits from the social insurance fund managed by the State. The voluntary social insurance contribution level is calculated based on the monthly income for social insurance contribution, but the lowest is equal to the common minimum wage and the highest is equal to 20 months of the common minimum wage. The voluntary social insurance benefit level is calculated based on the contribution level, social insurance payment period and is shared among voluntary social insurance participants.

People who participate in both compulsory and voluntary social insurance are entitled to the total payment period for both types of insurance.

Regarding the conditions for receiving unemployment insurance, Article 81 of the Law on Social Insurance stipulates: Unemployed people are entitled to unemployment insurance when they meet the following conditions: Having paid unemployment insurance for 12 months or more within 24 months before becoming unemployed; having registered for unemployment (reporting the occurrence of unemployment) with the Social Insurance organization; and not having found a job after 15 days from the date of registering for unemployment with the Social Insurance organization.

In comparison with the above regulations, in the case of Ms. Le Thi Thuy, after completing the procedures to quit her job, the Company where she worked before quitting her job is responsible for working with the Social Insurance to close the Social Insurance book, recognize the time of compulsory Social Insurance payment and return the Social Insurance book to her. After that, she can choose one of two forms: switching to voluntary Social Insurance participation immediately after quitting her job or reserving the time of compulsory Social Insurance payment, so that when she returns to work under the contract regime or recruitment regime, she continues to participate in compulsory Social Insurance. If she participates in voluntary Social Insurance interspersed with the time of stopping participating in compulsory Social Insurance, the time to calculate the pension and death benefits is the total participation time of both compulsory and voluntary Social Insurance.

Regarding unemployment benefits, in comparison with the provisions of Clause 4, Article 3 and Article 81 of the Law on Social Insurance, your company is currently providing employment (although the salary is low) but you proactively terminate the employment to take care of your children, you are not unemployed, not subject to and eligible for unemployment benefits.

*From email[email protected], the reader was a former youth union cadre, graduated from college, so he was recruited and assigned to work as a cultural civil servant at a commune People's Committee of a mountainous district of the province, receiving an administrative civil servant salary, grade A0. In 2009, the locality created conditions for him to attend university and will graduate next year. So when he has a university degree, will he be assigned a new salary grade from A0 to A1?

- Answer: According to Clause 2, Article 2 and Clause 4, Article 3, Joint Circular No. 03/2010/TTLT dated May 27, 2010 of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs guiding the implementation of Decree No. 92/2009/ND-CP dated October 22, 2009 of the Government, it is stipulated that: Commune-level cadres who have been classified according to one of the administrative civil servant ranks, if there is a change in their professional training level due to the competent agency or organization deciding to send them for training, then from the date of being granted a graduation certificate, their salary will be classified according to the new professional training level.

Commune-level civil servants who have been classified according to one of the administrative civil servant ranks, if there is a change in professional training level due to the decision of the competent organization to send them for training, then from the date of being granted a graduation certificate, their salary will be classified according to the new professional training level.

Thus, not only communal officials in general but also communal civil servants in professional positions are assigned to transfer their salaries after being sent to study by competent authorities. The person with the authority to issue the decision to send communal officials and communal civil servants to training (who is also the person who signs the decision to transfer their salaries according to new qualifications) is the Chairman of the District People's Committee or the Head of the District Internal Affairs Department according to the delegation of authority of the Chairman of the District People's Committee.

* People at Con Market Post Office (Thanh Chuong) and Dong Thuan and Dong Hop hamlets (Quy Hop) asked: How many months will a civil servant who is receiving salary receive when he or she dies? How much will the funeral cost be?

- Answer: Article 77 of the 2006 Law on Social Insurance stipulates that the following subjects, when they die, will receive funeral benefits: Employees who have paid social insurance for at least 5 years; people receiving pensions. The funeral benefit is equal to 10 months of the common minimum wage. In case the above subjects are declared dead by the Court, their relatives will also receive benefits.

Civil servants who are receiving a salary and die will have their salary cut from the time of death (according to the death certificate) and will be considered for receiving a death benefit for each successive month. According to Article 78 of the Law on Social Insurance, relatives of employees who are paying social insurance, employees who are reserving their social insurance payment period, and employees who are receiving a pension when they die will be entitled to a one-time death benefit. The one-time death benefit for relatives of employees who are paying social insurance or employees who are reserving their social insurance payment period is calculated at 1.5 months per year, the average monthly income for social insurance payment.

Nguyen Hai