House bill seeks to triple unemployment insurance of displaced workers

A measure has been filed at the House of Representatives seeking to triple the amount of unemployment insurance that laid-off employees can claim from the Social Security System (SSS).

Surigao Del Sur Representative Johnny Pimentel has filed House Bill 8594, which would allow displaced workers to claim unemployment benefits equal to 50% of the monthly salary for a maximum of six months granted through one-time payment.

“Our bill seeks to give more meaning to social security, and to the mandate of the 1987 Constitution for the State to afford full protection to labor,” Pimentel said.

“We have to guarantee households income security and safeguard them against distress when breadwinners lose their jobs through no fault of their own,” he added.

Currently, the subsidy is equivalent to 50% of the monthly salary for a maximum of two months, which means an employee who earned P15,000 per month would only get the same benefit.

But if enacted, the measure would allow the same displaced worker who used to claim P45,000.

Pimentel's bill seeks to amend RA 11199, or the Social Security Act of 2018.

Under the said law, the unemployment insurance is a cash grant, not a loan, and does not have to be repaid.

Covered under the benefit are employees, including household staff and overseas Filipino workers, who lost their jobs due to retrenchment or downsizing, closure or cessation of operation, installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy or similar reasons.

SSS members could avail of the benefit as long as they have paid at least 36 months of contribution, of which 12 months should be in the 18-month period immediately preceding the month of involuntary separation. — BM, GMA News