Adding workers affected by natural disasters to the group receiving employment support

Kinhtedothi - On November 9, discussing in groups about the Draft Law on Employment (amended), National Assembly deputies were interested in the issue of borrowing capital, job support; conditions for receiving and levels of unemployment benefits for workers...

Clearly identify priority borrowers

Introducing some new points of the Draft Law on Employment (amended), delegate Dao Ngoc Dung (National Assembly Delegation of Thanh Hoa Province), Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that compared to the 2013 Law on Employment, the Draft Law has some major amendments and supplements with 4 groups of policies: flexible, effective, modern, sustainable and integrated labor market management, focusing; perfecting unemployment insurance policy as a tool for labor market management; developing vocational skills, improving the quality of human resources; promoting sustainable job creation.

Speaking at the discussion in the group, National Assembly delegate Pham Hung Thang (National Assembly delegation of Ha Nam province) proposed adding the group of workers affected by natural disasters, war, and epidemics to the group eligible for loans and job creation support in Article 8 of the Draft Law.

"The historic floods caused by the recent Typhoon Yagi have completely wiped out villages, many workers have lost their assets and livelihoods... these are people who face many difficulties without financial support" - delegate Pham Hung Thang stated.

Also concerned about the subjects of loans to support job creation, maintenance and expansion, National Assembly delegate Nguyen Tran Phuong Tran (National Assembly Delegation of Ho Chi Minh City) stated that the phrase "priority subjects for loans" was repeated many times but was not clarified in the Draft Law; there were no specific regulations on which subjects were given priority. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly identify priority subjects for loans, with a specific list for unified implementation.

Proposal to increase unemployment benefits to 75%

Regarding the level of unemployment benefits, Clause 1, Article 65 of the Draft Law stipulates: "The monthly unemployment benefit level is equal to 60% of the average monthly salary for unemployment insurance contributions of the 6 most recent months of unemployment insurance contributions before unemployment...", delegate Pham Hung Thang suggested that the drafting agency consider raising the monthly unemployment benefit level to 75% of the average monthly salary for unemployment insurance contributions before leaving work.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Tran Phuong Tran (Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly Delegation) - Photo: Media.quochoi.vn

According to delegate Pham Hung Thang, most businesses currently pay their employees according to the regional minimum wage, so 60% of unemployment benefits are very low. With an average unemployment insurance salary of about 5.56 million VND in the 2022-2023 period, unemployment benefits that employees receive are 3.3 million VND per month. The above unemployment benefits do not meet 30% of the actual living expenses of the workers' families...

National Assembly delegate Nguyen Tran Phuong Tran expressed that at points b and d, clause 1, article 64 of the Draft Law stipulates that the cases in which unemployment benefits are not entitled are employees who are fired according to labor laws or disciplined and forced to quit their jobs according to the law on civil servants.

It is believed that this regulation is not suitable for the current unemployment insurance regime; this regulation limits and narrows the subjects entitled to unemployment benefits more than the current Law. Delegate Tran suggested that it is necessary to separate the cases where employees are subject to disciplinary action of forced dismissal according to the law on civil servants from the cases where employees are entitled to unemployment insurance to ensure the rights of employees.

Speaking at the discussion in the group, National Assembly delegate Duong Khac Mai (National Assembly delegation of Dak Nong province) said that point 2, clause 5, article 58 of the Draft Law is a new point compared to the current Law when it stipulates: "In case the employer is no longer able to pay the amount of late payment or evades unemployment insurance for the employee when terminating the labor relationship, the employee can choose to pay the amount into the Unemployment Insurance Fund under his/her responsibility for paying unemployment insurance, but the employer has not paid it to the social insurance agency to carry out the procedures to settle the unemployment insurance regime. When the social insurance agency recovers the amount of late payment or evaded unemployment insurance from the employer, it will refund the money that the employee has paid".

However, delegate Duong Khac Mai said that this regulation is not very feasible when applied in practice, because when the social insurance agency collects the money that the enterprise has paid late or evaded before returning it to the employee, the recovery will take too long.

Delegate Nguyen Thanh Cam (National Assembly Delegation of Tien Giang Province)

Therefore, the delegates proposed to reconsider. In case this regulation is still maintained, there must be a specific and clear retention period and payment period to protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers.

Regarding the conditions for unemployment benefits stipulated in Article 64 of the Draft Law, delegate Nguyen Thanh Cam (National Assembly Delegation of Tien Giang Province) said that: according to the provisions of the law on labor, employees who are fired according to the law on labor or disciplined by being forced to quit their jobs according to the law on civil servants are not entitled to receive severance pay.

To ensure the rights of workers, it is recommended that the drafting agency study and consider removing the provision at Point b, Clause 1, Article 64 to create conditions for the above-mentioned workers to receive unemployment benefits based on the principle of "contribution - enjoyment".

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/bo-sung-nguoi-lao-dong-bi-anh-huong-boi-thien-tai-vao-nhom-duoc-ho-tro-viec-lam.html