Complete summary of daily worker unemployment benefits eligibility
Do you know if daily workers can receive unemployment benefits if they meet a few qualifications? Daily workers are people who receive compensation for working for less than a month or moving around without a fixed place of business.
Below we have summarized information related to daily worker unemployment benefits eligibility.
Definition of daily wage worker
A daily worker is a person who is employed for wages or salary, but whose employment contract period is less than one month, or a person who receives compensation for working while wandering around without a fixed workplace.
Can daily workers also receive unemployment benefits?
Daily workers can also subscribe to employment insurance by reporting their work details. In principle, those who subscribe to employment insurance can receive unemployment benefits upon application if they find themselves in a state of involuntary unemployment.
However, unlike full-time workers, there are some differences in claiming unemployment benefits for daily workers.
Standards for recognition as daily workers
In Korea, it is largely divided into two categories: national pension standards and employment insurance standards. There are some differences in the accreditation standards of the two organizations.
1. National pension (health insurance): Refers to workers who work less than 8 days per month and less than 60 hours per month.
2. Employment Insurance (Industrial Accident Insurance): Refers to workers employed for less than one month.
Others: According to the Tax Act, the standard for daily workers is workers who have not been employed by the same employer for more than 3 months. (Less than 1 year for construction workers)
Requirements for payment
1) The insured unit period (employment insurance subscription period) must be 180 days or more in total during the 18 months prior to the date of job change for eligibility recognition, and the number of days worked in the 1 month prior to the date of application for eligibility must be less than 10 days.
(In the case of construction daily workers, in addition to working for less than 10 people in the one month prior to the application date for recognition of eligibility, unemployment benefits can also be received if there is no work history for 14 consecutive days prior to the application date for recognition of eligibility.)
2) If you are unable to find a job despite having the will and ability to work, you must actively engage in re-employment activities (job-seeking activities or self-employment preparation activities).
3) If the worker voluntarily quits to pursue self-employment or is fired due to serious reasons attributable to the worker, he or she cannot receive unemployment benefits.
When eligibility to apply for unemployment benefits is restricted
1. Serious fault
* If you are sentenced to imprisonment or heavier punishment for violating criminal law or job-related laws
* Cases that cause significant disruption to the business or cause property damage and fall under the circumstances specified in the Employment Insurance Act
* In case of long-term absence from work without justifiable cause in violation of employment contract or employment rules, etc.
2. An insured person who has changed jobs due to his/her own circumstances and falls under any of the following:
* When changing jobs or changing jobs to become self-employed
* In cases where a person with serious faults is not fired but changes jobs at the recommendation of the employer
* In case of other reasons that do not fall under the justifiable reasons under Article 101, Paragraph 2 of the [Employment Insurance Act Enforcement Rules]
Number of days job-seeking benefits are paid (number of days of prescribed salary)
Daily job-seeking benefit amount
1) The daily job-seeking benefit amount is 60% of the average daily wage for the three months before retirement.
(If the date of job change is before October 1, 2019, the average daily wage for the three months before retirement is 50%)
The upper limit is 66,000 won per day after the date of job change after January 2019 (60,000 won after January 2018 / 50,000 won after April 2017 / 46,584 won from January to March 2017 / 43,416 won in 2016 / 2015 43,000 won per year)
2) If the daily job-seeking benefit is less than 80% of the daily minimum wage, it is calculated as 80% of the daily minimum wage.
(If the date of job change is before October 1, 2019, the daily job-seeking benefit is less than 90% of the daily minimum wage, it is calculated as 90% of the daily minimum wage.)
※ However, if the calculated lower limit (80% of the minimum wage) is lower than the lower limit as of September 2019 (KRW 60,120, based on 8 hours of regular work), the current lower limit of job-seeking benefits is applied.
3) The daily minimum job-seeking wage is calculated as the daily minimum wage for the year based on the end date of subscription.
60,120 won in 2019 / 54,216 won in 2018 / 46,584 won in 2017 / 43,416 won in 2016 / 40,176 won in 2015 (based on 8 hours of prescribed working hours)
Expected payment date
1) The expected number of payment days is calculated from a minimum of 120 days to a maximum of 270 days depending on age at the time of retirement and eligibility for employment insurance.
(If the date of job change is before October 1, 2019, a minimum of 90 days and a maximum of 240 days)
How to apply for unemployment benefits for daily workers
1. If you are determined to be eligible to apply for unemployment benefits as a daily worker, visit the employment center with jurisdiction over your resident registration address with your identification card (resident registration card, driver’s license) and report your application for unemployment benefits.
2. You need to check whether a work history verification report has been submitted to the company you previously worked for.
3. Submit additional documents and provide consultation as requested by the Unemployment Insurance Corporation unemployment benefit manager.
4. If your qualifications are recognized, you can proceed in the same way as for general unemployment benefits.
5. Applicants must attend the employment center in person every 1 to 4 weeks from the date of reporting unemployment on a date designated by the director of the job stabilization period to receive recognition of unemployment and receive unemployment benefits.
In this article, we look at the qualifications and methods for applying for unemployment benefits for daily workers. I hope this helps those of you who are eligible.