The Social Security System opens up its online facility to accept unemployment benefits applications from its members who lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
SSS president and chief executive officer Aurora Ignacio said that job loss in times of global health crisis is one of the worst-case scenarios that the SSS wish would never happen.
She added, however, that as a pension fund, they have to anticipate these kinds of contingencies by allocating funds and providing SSS members with safer, faster, and more convenient means of filing benefit claims and receiving their cash benefits.
Online application
Members who will apply for the said benefit should register for a My.SSS account at the SSS website, www.sss.gov.ph.
In registration for a My.SSS account, a member, will have to provide his or her contact details.
Image: SSS
Once registered, go to the E-Services tab and click the “Apply for unemployment benefits claim’. They will need to provide other personal information such as active savings account through the bank enrollment module (BEM), employment category, the date and the reason for involuntary separation, and the employer’s name where the member was separated.
Reasons for involuntary separation may be retrenchment or downsizing, the closure or cessation of business operations, and other reasons which resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ignacio reminded members to double-check the encoded details submitting their applications to avoid any inconvenience brought by any erroneous entry, such as bank account number and contact details. Furthermore, members will also have to secure email and text notifications for future reference.
Image: Facebook/Philippine Social Security System
To qualify for the unemployment benefit, employees, including household service workers and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), must have paid at least 36 monthly contributions, 12 of which should have been paid within the last 18 months before the involuntary separation.
Also, the member must not be more than 60 years old at the time of involuntary separation, except for underground and surface mineworkers, and racehorse jockeys who should not be more than 50 and 55 years old, respectively.
Learn more about the SSS unemployment benefits for SSS members who lost their jobs because of the COVID-19 pandemic here.
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