Laid-off workers to get aid up to 6 months
KUALA LUMPUR: Private-sector workers laid off this year will be entitled to get financial assistance of up to six months under the Employment Insurance System (EIS).
Social Security Organisation (Socso) chairman Tan Sri Aseh Che Mat said the government allocated RM136 million this year to make the payments under EIS.
He said this was an interim measure ahead of the full implementation of EIS from January next year.
“Although the new system will be fully fledged only in January 2019, we can provide financial assistance from three to six months to help affected workers in the interim period.”
He said under the EIS Act 2017, workers laid off this year were entitled to a temporary financial assistance of RM600 per month while they looked for a job.
He said EIS would benefit those in situations where their employers absconded, companies were restructured or downsized, or faced constructive dismissal and forceful resignation.
“Anyone between 18 and 60 is eligible to claim EIS if he is faced with unemployment.”
Under EIS, employers and employees each contribute 0.2 per cent a month, and is applicable only to a maximum salary of RM4,000. Thus, a worker’s maximum contribution to EIS is RM7.90 a month, on an average.
Aseh said that apart from financial assistance, workers who lost their jobs would be given employment service support, including job-searching and job-matching assistance, career counselling and training.
He said the financial assistance under EIS was limited to six months, but the payout was expected to be faster compared with other schemes, as the money would be credited within seven days upon verification of unemployment.
He said benefits, such as counselling, training and upskilling, would continue until the laid-off workers found a job.
He said Socso would employ 621 additional staff to ensure EIS operations ran smoothly.
He said the move was to ensure that the 6.6 million private-sector workers under the Employees Social Workers Security Act 1969 continued to be protected.
All EIS-related operations, he added, would be handled by the Jalan Tun Razak office, not its headquarters in Jalan Ampang.
He said eight counters at Wisma Perkeso had been opened and dedicated to EIS since Tuesday.
He said Socso targeted RM479.5 million collections for this year from private-sector workers and 430,000 employers.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is expected to officially launch EIS this month.