Unemployment Insurance Policy Changes: Workers Benefit

(Baonghean) - From January 1, 2015, the unemployment insurance (UI) regime is implemented according to the provisions of the 2013 Employment Law with many major changes officially taking effect, creating conditions for employees to compensate for part of their income during unemployment, contributing to ensuring social security. However, preventing the exploitation of unemployment insurance is still facing many difficulties.

Expanding the audience

Due to common difficulties, many businesses have had to cut down on the number of workers, leading to an increase in unemployment in the province recently. Thanks to the unemployment insurance policy, many unemployed workers have had less trouble finding new jobs. A typical example is Ms. Nguyen Thi Duyen, residing in Nghi Long (Nghi Loc). After a period of working as a worker in Binh Duong, she quit her job and returned to her hometown. She went to the provincial Employment Service Center (Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs) to apply for unemployment benefits and register for a new job referral. During the process of finding a new job, Ms. Duyen received nearly 1.4 million VND in unemployment insurance in the first month.

Asked about the new regulations on unemployment insurance, Ms. Duyen said: The procedures for applying for unemployment benefits are not complicated and do not cause difficulties for workers. Compared to previous regulations, the subjects participating in unemployment insurance under the Law on Employment will include more workers (NLĐ) working under seasonal contracts for 3 months or more. On the other hand, there is no longer a regulation that employers (NSDLĐ) employing 10 or more workers must participate in unemployment insurance.

However, many workers are still concerned about the new regulations, because the time and level of benefits are lower than before. Specifically, according to the new regulations, workers who participate in unemployment insurance for 12 to 36 months will receive 3 months of benefits, then for every additional 12 months of participation in unemployment insurance, they will receive 1 more month of benefits, but not exceeding 12 months. According to this calculation, workers who participate in unemployment insurance for 36 months will receive 3 months of benefits (previously 6 months), and those who participate for 72 months will receive 6 months (previously 9 months). Regarding the monthly benefits: The maximum limit does not exceed 5 times the regional minimum wage or the basic salary. In addition, unemployed workers who find jobs will stop receiving benefits and will not receive the remaining months at once as before. The months not yet received will be accumulated for the next unemployment period.

Ms. Lam Thi Que - Head of the Unemployment Insurance Department, Employment Service Center said: The change in time and benefit level is suitable to actual conditions and does not reduce the rights of workers. If according to the old regulations, the fact that people who have paid unemployment insurance for 3 years and people who have paid for 5 years have the same benefit level causes inequality. And the restriction on one-time benefits is also to avoid abuse and loss of unemployment insurance funds.

Provincial Employment Service Center staff explain new regulations on unemployment insurance.

In addition, the new regulations on unemployment insurance also have many changes that are beneficial to employees. According to the old regulations, employers who employ less than 10 employees and have labor contracts of less than 12 months do not have to participate in unemployment insurance. Meanwhile, these are the subjects with a high possibility of losing their jobs. However, from January 1, 2015, employees working under labor contracts with a term of at least 3 months in all agencies and units (regardless of the number of employees being used) are subject to compulsory participation in social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance. At the same time, the regulation that employees who unilaterally terminate labor contracts or work contracts illegally are not entitled to unemployment benefits will make employees consider more carefully when deciding to "jump ship".

Increasing the unemployment registration period to 3 months from the date the employee lost his/her job instead of 7 days as before has helped employees have enough time to prepare all the necessary conditions to receive unemployment benefits. Ms. Le Thi Thu (Hung Khanh commune, Hung Nguyen district) said: Previously, to receive unemployment insurance, you had to register for unemployment and then file for unemployment benefits, but now you only have to file and send it to the Employment Service Center and wait for the day to receive the decision. In addition, you will also be guided through vocational training procedures to receive support. The above regulations are very beneficial for employees.

Prevent profiteering

Every day, the Employment Service Center, Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of the province receives and processes applications for more than 50 unemployed people. Ms. Lam Thi Que, Head of the Unemployment Insurance Department, said: The number of workers registering for unemployment insurance benefits has increased gradually in recent years. From January 1, 2015 to present, the center has received 2,179 people applying for unemployment insurance benefits, of which 678 are employees working at enterprises in the province. To date, 2,016 people have received decisions to receive unemployment benefits with an amount of more than 15.7 billion VND.

To ensure the legitimate rights of workers receiving unemployment benefits, especially helping unemployed workers find jobs, the center focuses on providing counseling and job referrals to workers. However, most workers are not interested. Most of them come to the center to receive unemployment benefits. The number of people who are referred to jobs and vocational training accounts for only a small percentage of the number of people receiving unemployment benefits. In 2014, the center only supported vocational training for 43 subjects. Since the beginning of 2015, only 3 subjects have registered for vocational training.

Currently, there are some workers who take advantage of the unemployment insurance regime in many different ways such as: proactively asking to quit their jobs to receive unemployment insurance regime, having a new job but not notifying the suspension of payment; colluding with businesses to receive unemployment insurance regime... Discussing the above issue, Ms. Lam Thi Que said that there are acts of taking advantage of unemployment benefits regime. However, this number is not much, the subjects during the period of receiving unemployment insurance regime have a new job but do not notify to cancel the records and reserve. Every month, the center sends a list of people with complete records to the Social Insurance for review to detect cases of simultaneously applying for unemployment benefits and participating in social insurance payments.

Through the review, a few cases of profiteering were discovered. Immediately after that, the center cut the records and recovered the unemployment benefits. As for other forms of profiteering, they have not been discovered yet and if the workers are dishonest, it is very difficult to control. According to Mr. Ngo Ngoc Thanh, Head of the Collection Management Department (Provincial Social Insurance), it is very difficult to detect the behavior of workers profiteering from the unemployment insurance regime. In the coming time, with the expansion of the subjects participating in unemployment insurance, preventing profiteering behaviors will be even more difficult.

The new regulation creates maximum conditions for workers, but a worrying reality is that currently, the situation of outstanding social insurance debts along with other types of outstanding compulsory social insurance, health insurance... is at a high and prolonged level, directly affecting the rights of workers when they lose their jobs. In the long term, it can affect the balance of revenue and expenditure, causing an imbalance in the Social Insurance Fund.

Currently, in the province, there are still many enterprises that have outstanding debts, do not participate or intentionally avoid paying unemployment insurance for employees. As for employees, partly because of limited knowledge about the unemployment insurance regime, partly because of fear of losing their jobs, they do not dare to fight to protect their rights. To ensure the rights of employees at these enterprises, the Social Insurance has "flexibly" confirmed to employees about their social insurance payments up to the time the enterprise stops paying. After that, employees can complete procedures to receive unemployment insurance benefits according to regulations.

In order for the unemployment insurance policy to truly come into effect, there needs to be close coordination and participation between relevant departments and sectors, not only in disseminating and popularizing related policies and laws, but also in limiting social insurance arrears to ensure the rights of workers. More importantly, trade unions also need to participate more strongly in monitoring employers in implementing and complying with labor laws, while workers also proactively improve their understanding and knowledge of the law to protect themselves.

Nguyen Hung