Are civil servants and public employees entitled to unemployment benefits when they quit their jobs?

Implementing the streamlining of the apparatus and staffing in accordance with the spirit of Resolution 18 of the Central Committee, there will be many state employees who quit their jobs. Many people ask, according to current legal regulations, how will civil servants and public employees who quit their jobs be paid, and what will the unemployment benefits be like?

Unemployment benefits with new contributions are available.

Unemployment benefits are paid on the basis of contribution and benefit based on the 2013 Law on Employment on subjects required to participate in unemployment insurance when working under a labor contract or work contract.

According to the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants 2008, amended by Clause 1, Article 1 of the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants and the Law on Public Employees amended in 2019, civil servants are Vietnamese citizens who are recruited and appointed to ranks, positions, and titles corresponding to job positions in agencies of the Party, the State, and socio-political organizations at the central, provincial, and district levels; in agencies and units of the People's Army that are not officers, professional soldiers, or defense workers; in agencies and units of the People's Public Security that are not officers, non-commissioned officers serving under the professional regime, or public security workers, on the payroll and receiving salaries from the state budget.

Thus, civil servants are not subject to unemployment insurance because they work on the payroll and receive salaries from the state budget without having to work under a labor contract. Therefore, when they quit their jobs, civil servants will not receive unemployment benefits.

Although not entitled to unemployment benefits, when leaving the job, civil servants will receive severance pay and social insurance benefits according to the law stipulated in Decree 46/2010 on severance and retirement procedures for civil servants of the Government.

Although not eligible for unemployment benefits, laid-off civil servants may be entitled to the following benefits:

Receive severance pay. The amount of benefit for each year of work is calculated as 1/2 month of current salary including: Salary according to grade, level, leadership position allowance; seniority allowance exceeding the framework; seniority allowance; salary retention difference coefficient (if any).

The minimum severance pay is equal to 1 month of current salary.

If they do not continue to participate in voluntary social insurance, civil servants will receive a one-time social insurance payment if they fall into one of the following cases: Reaching the retirement age as prescribed but have not paid social insurance for 20 years; after one year of unemployment but have not paid social insurance for 20 years; settling abroad; suffering from one of the life-threatening diseases as prescribed by the Ministry of Health.

The one-time social insurance benefit is equal to 1.5 months of social insurance salary multiplied by the number of years of social insurance contribution.

Officials receive unemployment benefits

Article 2 of the 2010 Law on Public Employees clearly states that public employees are Vietnamese citizens recruited according to job positions, working at public service units under labor contracts, receiving salaries from the salary fund of public service units according to the provisions of law.

Thus, according to the above regulations, civil servants are still subjects participating in unemployment insurance and when they quit their jobs, civil servants will receive unemployment benefits.

Pursuant to Article 50 of the Law on Employment, the monthly unemployment benefit level is stipulated as follows: Employees are entitled to 60% of the average monthly salary for unemployment insurance contributions of the 6 consecutive months prior to unemployment.

In which, the maximum monthly benefit is not more than 5 times the basic salary at the time of contract termination for cases where employees implement the salary regime prescribed by the State.

The maximum monthly benefit shall not exceed 5 times the regional minimum wage at the time of termination of the labor contract in cases where the employee is subject to a salary regime prescribed by the employer.

In addition, the Law on Employment also stipulates that employees can receive unemployment benefits from the 16th day from the date of submitting complete unemployment benefit application documents.

A labor and employment expert said that for civil servants and public employees, when streamlining the payroll, the streamlining regime will be applied to handle the matter. The streamlining regime is regulated for each stage, each period and according to the document for civil servants and public employees. However, civil servants who are allowed to retire early due to the implementation of the pension policy will not receive unemployment benefits.