With the deadline approaching for the UAE’s Unemployment Guide, here’s all the essential deets on the scheme itself and how to register.
With the scheme announced in 2023 with the goal of giving private sector workers more security in light of potential job instability. Having cash compensation if you lose your job through extenuating circumstances is an absolute blessing to workers, especially those with families and young children to support. With the compensation capped at three months, this should be more than enough to cover you until you find new employment, especially if you’ve also been savings-savvy.
Launched by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) in collusion with nine local insurance firms, and the scheme is mandatory for both the public and private sector workers, with the deadline being recently extended to October 1st 2023.
How to Enrol?
You can sign up via the Involuntary Loss of Employment Scheme website, smart application, bank ATMs, kiosk machines, business service centres, money exchange companies, du and Etisalat or SMS. Make sure you apply before the deadline though, as the fine for non-subscription is AED 400. Excluded from the scheme are those on temporary employment contracts and anyone under the age of 18.
How does it Work?
There are two categories within the scheme, the first covers those with a basic salary of AED 16,000 or less, and the cost for this employee is AED 5 per month, or AED 60 per annum. In the second category are workers with a basic salary exceeding AED 16,000 for which the insurance cost is AED 10 per month or AED 120 per annum.
Payments can be made by the employee monthly, quarterly, every six months, or annually, and are subject to 5% VAT. Commission-based workers can also subscribe.
What’s the Compensation?
The value of the monthly compensation will not exceed Dhs10,000 for the first category, and Dhs20,000 for the second category.
The value of the monthly compensation will not exceed Dhs10,000 for the first category, and Dhs20,000 for the second category. The insurance coverage is calculated on a monthly basis at the rate of 60% of the basic salary for a maximum of three months for each claim from the date of unemployment. Claims can be submitted through the insurance pool’s e-portal, the insurance smart application, and the insurance pool’s call centre, but this has to be within 30 days from the date of unemployment.
Compensation is then made within two weeks from the claim date, but capped at a maximum of three months per claim. You must also have worked and subscribed for at least 12 months to the insurance scheme, and cannot have been dismissed for a disciplinary reason. You also become ineligible if you leave the country or have started a new period of employment,
