translated from Spanish: Congress dispatched project that improves access and unemployment insurance amounts

The Congress dispatched the project that extends and refines the Employment Protection Act, while temporarily making access requirements more flexible and increasing the amount of benefits provided by Desempleo.La Labor Minister’s Insurance, María José Zaldivar, stated that “this is excellent news for many workers who are taking their Cesantía Insurance and thousands of others who are , despite being unemployed, they could not access this benefit.” From now on they will be able to do so, receive better benefits and for longer. As a government we are very satisfied because we will be able to continue to help Chileans and their families in these difficult times,” he added. In the meantime, the Under-Secretary of Labour, Fernando Arab, stated that “this new regulation comes at a much-needed time for many families in our country who urgently require that their incomes not continue to decline, also giving them the possibility of access to additional turns during this suspension period and very significantly expanding the universe of potential beneficiaries”. The reform empowers the Executive to increase by up to five months the validity of the Employment Protection Act so that workers can qualify for the suspension of contract until February 2021 that originally ends in October. It also increases the time to be able to request the reduction of the working day until July next year, a period that could also be increased by another five months. In addition, it makes it more flexible and transitionally reduces the requirements for access to The Cessation Insurance, allowing many workers who are currently unemployed to qualify for this system with only three continuous contributions prior to the end of their contract or 6 continuous or discontinuous monthly contributions in the last 12 months (provided that the last 2 have been continuous and with the same employer). It also raises the maximum turns to seven without distinction between workers with indefinite contract, fixed, or by work or work, as established by the original law; increases the amounts it gives to 55% of the taxable wage in the third and fourth round (with retroactive effect to August 1), and allows to increase the original percentages (30%) Cesantía Insurance for a sixth and seventh spin if certain paraments defined in a supreme decree are met, up to 45% of the average remuneration. Thanks to this reform, potentially about 2 million people will be able to access The Cessation Insurance and 3 million to qualify for solidarity funding. In the meantime, beneficiaries of the Employment Protection Act, which is projected to reach 1.2 million workers, will see the amount of their payments increased, which may also receive them for longer. The Employment Protection Act has already passed 730,493 applications for suspension of employment and another 44,557 applications for reductions in working hours (SP Report: as of August 23, 2020). In the case of private home workers, the reform reaffirmed that, for the purpose of calculating Emergency Family Income (IFE), those who have suspended the effects of their employment contracts under the Employment Protection Act are not receiving rents, and that the withdrawal of 4.11% of the compensation for any event of such workers will not be considered as income for the purposes of the IFE. During the course of the bill, the Government also undertook to send a new bill to include private home workers in the Cesantía Insurance, a project that entered into its processing on Wednesday, August 26, and which yesterday took a step in the Senate Labor Committee, after the idea of legislating was approved.

Original source in Spanish