SSS: P178-M unemployment benefits released in 2019

Credit to Author: Eireene Jairee Gomez| Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2020 17:15:20 +0000

The Social Security System (SSS) on Wednesday reported it has released P178 million worth of benefits in 2019 under its unemployment benefit or involuntary separation insurance program.

In a statement, SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Aurora Ignacio said the pension fund received 15,151 unemployment benefit applications last year of which 14,895 were approved and translated to P178 million of benefit releases.

The said program is one of the key features of Republic Act 11199 or the “Social Security Act of 2018” that took effect on March 5, 2019.

The unemployment benefit program is the newest among the benefits being offered by SSS that allows qualified SSS members who are involuntarily separated from work to claim for a cash allowance equivalent to two times his or her average monthly salary credit.

Since its implementation in August 2019, the bulk of the unemployment benefit applications were received in October with 4,596 approved applications that corresponded to P54.61 million released to qualified members.

“We are hoping that with the newest benefit, we will help more SSS members during times of unexpected job loss. Our primary objective is to assist them while they are looking for another job after they were involuntarily separated from their work. They may also use the benefit for their retooling and capacity building to find a better job or work that will suit their skills,” Ignacio said.

The program, she noted, was patterned after the unemployment benefit program in European countries.

Eligible members for the benefit must not be more than 60 years old at the time of involuntary separation, except for underground and surface mineworkers, and racehorse jockeys whose age should not be more than 50 and 55 years old, respectively.

“The unemployment benefit can be claimed only once every three years starting from the date of involuntary separation from work. If two or more compensable contingencies occurred within the same period, SSS will only pay the highest benefit from the recorded contingencies. They are given one year from the time of their separation to file for their benefit claim,” Ignacio explained.

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