What Are The Conditions For Receiving Unemployment Benefits? How Are They Calculated?
The conditions for eligibility for unemployment insurance and the amounts that can be received are regulated in the Unemployment Insurance Law No. 4447. As stated in Article 49 of the Law, the unemployment insurance premium is calculated as 1% of the monthly gross income subject to the premium for the insured, 2% for the employer, and 1% for the state. However, the state share is not collected from voluntary insured persons; only 1% is paid by the insured and 2% by the employer.
In general, three conditions must be met to be eligible for unemployment benefits. The first of these is that
unemployment insurance premiums must have been paid for a total of at least 600 days over the last three years, continuously within the last 120 days prior to the termination of the employment contract.
According to this article, an employee whose employment contract has been terminated or who has been forced to terminate their employment contract for justifiable reasons must have worked continuously for 4 months prior to the termination of the employment contract. Another condition listed in the same article is that at least 600 days of unemployment insurance premiums must have been paid within the last 3 years prior to the termination of the employment contract. The number of days of premium payments made by the employee whose employment contract has been terminated in the last three years is important in determining the number of months for which they will receive benefits.
The termination of the employment contract must not be due to the employee’s own will or fault.
In order to be eligible for unemployment insurance, the employee must not be at fault. If the employer has reasons to terminate the employment contract in accordance with Article 25 of the Labor Law, the employee will not be entitled to unemployment benefits. In addition, if the employee terminates the employment contract without giving any reason or without any just cause (resignation), the employee will not be entitled to unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits are paid if the employer terminates the employment contract without stating any reason (dismissal) and if the employee is forced to terminate the employment contract for a just cause. However, in practice, there are problems with the employee receiving unemployment benefits in the event of termination for just cause. If the employer terminates the employment contract without stating any reason and reports this situation in the termination notice, the employee can receive unemployment benefits by applying to the institution within the specified period. However, if the employee terminates the employment contract for a justifiable reason, the existence of the justifiable reason is often not accepted by the relevant institution, and a court ruling stating that the employment contract was terminated for a justifiable reason is required. is required.
The employee must apply to the institution within 30 days of the termination of the employment contract.
Employees who meet both conditions can apply for unemployment benefits by personally applying to the institution and stating that they are ready to work in a new job. The 30-day period is not a time-barring period. In other words, even if 30 days have passed since the termination of the employment contract, the employee can still apply to the relevant institution, İŞKUR. However, the allowance they will receive will decrease for each day that exceeds 30 days. For example, if the employee applies to İşkur 45 days after the termination of the employment contract, it means that they will receive 15 days less than the allowance they should receive.
HOW IS UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT CALCULATED?
To calculate unemployment benefit, the employee’s gross salary for the last 4 months and the unemployment insurance premiums paid over the last 3 years must be known. We have stated that if the employee has paid premiums for less than 600 days in the last 3 years, they will not be eligible for unemployment benefits. If the employee has paid premiums for 600 days in the last 3 years, they will receive unemployment benefits for 180 days (6 months). If they have 900 days, the worker will receive unemployment benefits for 240 days (8 months). If they have 1080 days, meaning they have worked for the entire last 3 years, the worker will receive unemployment benefits for 300 days (10 months).
The amount to be paid is calculated by taking the average of the employee’s gross salary for the last 4 months of uninterrupted work. Forty percent of the employee’s average gross salary for the last 4 months is paid to the employee as unemployment benefits. The only deduction made from unemployment benefits is stamp duty, which is currently 0.759%, and only this rate is deducted. However, another important point to note is that no matter how high the employee’s salary is, the unemployment benefit they can receive cannot exceed 80% of the monthly minimum wage.