Eligibility for job-seeking benefits
Requirements for job-seeking benefits- Aninsured worker shall meet all the following requirements to receive job-seekingbenefits. (Article 40, paragraph 1 of the Employment Insurance Act)
· The number ofqualifying days the insured worker spent in covered employment (referring to"qualifying days in covered employment" under will 41 of theEmployment Insurance Act) during the base period under Article 40-(2) of theEmployment Insurance Act (hereinafter referred to as "base period")shall be at least 180 days in total.
· The insuredworker is willing and able to work but is still yet to secure employment(including self-employment in a for-profit business).
· The reasonsfor severance from employment shall not fall under any of the disqualifyingconditions set forth in Article 58 of the Employment Insurance Act.
· The insuredworker shall be actively seeking reemployment.
· The number of days worked from the first day of the month prior to the month, to which the date of applying for recognition of eligibility for benefits prescribed in Article 43 of the Employment Insurance Act belongs, to the date of applying for recognition of eligibility for benefits shall be less than one-third of the total days in the same period or construction day laborers (those engaged in construction business under the Korean Standard Industrial Classification) without any work record for 14 consecutive days before the date of application for recognition of eligibility for benefits. (*applicable only to daily workers who were daily workers at the time of their last change of employment).
· If the insuredworker had disqualifying severance (Article 58 of the Employment Insurance Act)from employment, during "qualifying days in covered employment" inthe base period as of the date of the insured worker's most recent severancefrom employment, then the insured worker shall have worked as a daily workerfor at least 90 days out of the qualifying days in covered employment.(*applicable only to daily workers at the time of severance)
Base period extension- Thebase period shall be 18 months up to the date of severance from employment, butif the insured worker falls under any of thefollowing, the base period shall be such period stated there (Article 40(2) ofthe Employment Insurance Act, will 60 of the Enforcement Decree of theEmployment Insurance Act and the Notice on Extension of Base Period).
· Where, duringthe 18-month period up to the date of severance from employment, worker couldnot receive salary for 30 consecutive days or more due to any of the followingreasons: Period of 18 months added by the number of days when he/she could notreceive salary due to such reason (Shall be deemed 3 years if in excess of 3years)
√Illness; injury
√Temporary closure of business
√Temporary absence due to pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare
√ Working in a foreign country per the order of the businessowner (unless wage is paid in the country)
√ Labordispute under the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act
√Temporary absence for caring for relatives living together (spouse; bloodrelatives within the eighth degree of relationship; affinity relatives withinthe fourth degree of relationship under Article 777 of the Civil Act)
√Temporary absence due to military service
√Dispatch to a workplace where employment insurance does not apply per the orderof the business owner
√ Where a business owner becomes placed in an inevitable situation to conduct employment adjustment under Article 21(1) of the Employment Insurance Act and grants a leave of absence without paying allowances or other money and valuables
√ Unfair dismissal
· Where all thefollowing requirements are met: 24 months up to the date of severance fromemployment
√ At the time of severance from employment, the worker wasworking less than 15 hours per week, and less than 2 days per week
√ During the "qualifying days in covered employment"of 24 months up to the date of severance from employment, worked as a workermeeting the aforesaid requirement, for 90 days or more.
Calculation of qualifying days in coveredemployment- Thenumber of qualifying days in the worker’s covered employment shall becalculated as the sum of the number of days in covered employment for which remunerationis paid. (Main Text of Article 41(1) of the Employment Insurance Act)
- In calculatingthe number of qualifying days in covered employment, if a person alreadyreceived job-seeking benefits before the date insured status was lastlyattained, the qualifying days in covered employment occurred before the date offorfeiture of the insured status related to the job-seeking benefits shall beexcluded from the calculation. (Article 41(2) of the Employment Insurance Act)
Calculation of qualifying days in coveredemployment- The period ofcovered employment shall be the period of employment with the employing unitcovered at the time of severance from employment to which the currenteligibility for benefits relates (excluding any period of employment as anexempted worker under Articles 10 and 10-2 of the Employment Insurance Act).(Body part of Article 50(3) of the Employment Insurance Act)
- Where an insuredstatus was forfeited in the previous covered business and a new insured statusis acquired in the currently covered business within three years from the dateof such forfeiture, the period of covered employment in the previous coveredbusiness shall be added up. (Article 50(4)-1 of the Employment Insurance Act)
· Provided, thatin cases of having received unemployment benefits due to the forfeiture ofinsured status in the previous covered business, the period of coveredemployment in the previous covered business shall be excluded.