SSS Unemployment Insurance Benefit: Who Are Qualified To Apply For It

Guide on SSS Unemployment Insurance Benefit Qualification

SSS UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFIT – Here is a guide on the qualifications in applying for this Social Security System (SSS) benefit offer.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of businesses temporarily or permanently closed. They were not able to withstand the demands of the pandemic which include no operations for weeks if not for months. They only incurred expenses with no returns.

The whole Philippines is under community quarantine measures for more than a year now. In areas under the strictest level of quarantine measure, the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ), business operations are limited. In fact, even the essential businesses have to embrace the changes under the new normal setting.

Most of the businesses that closed are those small ones that depend on daily income. The closure of many businesses also leads to a rise in the unemployment level in the country.

For the members of the Social Security System who lost their job, they have something to turn to – the SSS Unemployment Insurance Benefit. It is also called the Involuntary Separation Benefit.

Who are qualified to apply for the SSS Unemployment Insurance Benefit?

To be eligible for an SSS Unemployment grant, the member-applicant must:

• have been separated from work due to “retrenchment or downsizing, closure or cessation of operation, installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy, etc.”
• not be over 60 years old at the time of the involuntary separation from office; not over 50 years old if the member-applicant is an underground or surface mineworker; and not over 55 years old if the applicant is a racehorse jockey
• have paid at least 36 monthly contributions with12 months of it paid during the 18-month period preceding to the involuntary separation from work

According to SSS, those members who lost their job due to willful disobedience to lawful orders, gross and habitual neglect of duties, fraud, a commission of a crime, or other analogous cases are not eligible for the cash grant.

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