Why is it still required to submit unemployment insurance applications directly?
In Section a, Sub-section 2, Section II of administrative procedures issued with Decision 351/QD-BLDTBXH in 2024, within 3 months from the date of termination of the labor contract or employment contract, unemployed employees who need to receive unemployment benefits must directly submit a set of documents requesting unemployment benefits to the local employment service center where the employee wants to receive unemployment benefits.
Employees are authorized to authorize another person to submit the application or send the application by post if they fall into one of the following cases: Illness, maternity with confirmation from a competent medical facility; accident with confirmation from the traffic police or a competent medical facility; fire, flood, earthquake, tsunami, war, epidemic with confirmation from the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune, ward, or town.
In the draft Law on Employment (amended), the issue of submitting unemployment benefit applications is stipulated in Article 97. Accordingly, within 3 months from the date of termination of the labor contract or employment contract or termination of employment for the subjects specified in Point d, Clause 1, Article 81 of this Law according to the provisions of law, employees shall directly submit unemployment benefit applications at the employment service center established by the provincial-level State management agency for employment, except in cases of force majeure.
Ms. Vu Thi Thanh Lieu - Deputy Director of Hanoi Employment Service Center - said that since May 2022, following the direction of the Hanoi People's Committee, the center has received applications for unemployment benefits in the national public service. Ms. Lieu added that the center is currently receiving more than 90% of workers submitting applications online, so why does the draft law still stipulate direct submission, except in cases of force majeure?
The core objective is to advise and introduce jobs.
Similarly, regarding monthly job search notification, Article 52 of the 2013 Employment Law stipulates that during the period of receiving unemployment benefits, employees must directly notify the employment service center where they are receiving unemployment benefits every month about their job search, except in some cases.
In the draft Law on Employment (amended), Article 98 also stipulates similarly that when employees are receiving monthly unemployment benefits, they must directly report their job search. According to the draft, if employees do not report their job search, their unemployment benefits will be suspended; if they do not report for 3 consecutive months, their benefits will be terminated and they will not be able to reserve the entire period of participation in unemployment insurance.
A leader of a job service center said that the core goal of the unemployment insurance policy is to provide job counseling, support, and job creation for workers so that they can find jobs soon and return to the labor market soon. "Therefore, the regulation of directly posting job search notices at the job service center is very meaningful, because the center staff has the opportunity to directly advise workers on jobs and vocational training," said this leader.
According to this leader, currently implementing Project 06 on "Developing applications of population data, identification and electronic authentication to serve national digital transformation in the period of 2022 - 2025, with a vision to 2030", it is expected that the job search notification procedure will also be conducted online. However, unlike the unemployment benefit procedure, job search notification should not be conducted online because workers will lose the opportunity to receive job counseling and vocational training to change careers.
Mr. Vu Hong Quang - Deputy Head of the Policy and Law Department (Vietnam General Confederation of Labor) said that in sending documents and job search notices, it is necessary to create conditions for workers to make it more convenient for them, however, it is still necessary to ensure State management and the implementation of the responsibilities of the employment service center. Therefore, it is necessary to have specific calculations in the draft Law on Employment (amended) on these contents.
