If I am laid off at the end of the year, am I entitled to unemployment benefits?

Lawyer Nguyen Thu Thuy, YouMe Law Firm LLC replied:

Article 47 of the 2019 Labor Code stipulates unemployment benefits as follows:

1. The employer shall pay unemployment benefits to employees who have worked regularly for the employer for 12 months or more and lose their jobs according to the provisions of Clause 11, Article 34 of this Code. For each year of work, the employer shall pay 01 month's salary but at least 02 months' salary.

2. Working time for calculating unemployment benefits is the total time the employee actually worked for the employer minus the time the employee participated in unemployment insurance according to the provisions of the law on unemployment insurance and the working time for which the employer paid severance pay and unemployment benefits.

3. The salary used to calculate unemployment benefits is the average salary of the 6 consecutive months under the labor contract before the employee loses his/her job.

4. The Government shall detail this Article.

According to the provisions of Clause 1.1, Article 34 and Article 42 of the 2019 Labor Code, the case where an employer terminates an employee's employment for economic reasons is one of the cases of termination of the labor contract.

Thus, if an employee has worked for an employer for 12 months or more, and is laid off for economic reasons, he or she will be entitled to unemployment benefits.

The level of unemployment benefits is determined based on the time for calculating unemployment benefits and the salary for calculating unemployment benefits, accordingly, for each year of work, the employee is paid 01 month of salary but at least equal to 02 months of salary. The time and salary for calculating unemployment benefits are determined according to the provisions cited above.