Siaton tells employees separated from work to secure DOLE-7 certification, avail of unemployment insurance

DOLE-7 Director Salome Siaton. | DOLE -7 Photo

CEBU CITY—Workers who were involuntarily separated from work and who wants to claim unemployment insurance from the Social Security System (SSS) have to apply for a certificate of separation from employment from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

DOLE-7 Director Salome Siaton said that the certificate is a primary requisite in the application for unemployment insurance or involuntary separation benefit.

“All employees, including kasambahay (househelp) and overseas Filipino workers, who are covered for the grant of unemployment insurance or involuntary separation benefit should apply for this DOLE certification,” Siaton said in a press statement released today, October 8.

However, Siaton clarified that only those who were separated or dismissed from work due to authorized causes will be granted the DOLE certification.

The authorized causes as grounds for dismissal from work include the following:

• Retrenchment to prevent losses;

• Closure or cessation of operation of an establishment not due to serious losses or financial reverses;

• When the employee is suffering from a disease not curable within the period of six (6) months and his/her continued employment is prejudicial to his/her health or to the health of his/her co-employees; and,

• Installation by employer of labor-saving devices; (5) Redundancy; and (6) Impossible reinstatement of the employee to his/her former position.

The affected employees can file their application for DOLE certification at the DOLE field or provincial office where the employer is located or where the employee resides.

“In the case of OFWs, they may file their application at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office where their employer operates or at the DOLE Field/Provincial Office where the OFW resides,” Siaton said.

The applicants have to present a valid identification card and a copy of the Notice of Termination or a duly notarized Affidavit of Termination of Employment.

DOLE-7 aims to observe the one-day process cycle time for the issuance of the certification, which has to be signed by the head of the field or provincial offices, Siaton added.

The issuance of the DOLE certification is pursuant to Department Circular No. 01-2019 or the Guidelines on the Issuance of DOLE Certification as a requirement for Application for Payment of Unemployment Insurance or Involuntary Separation Benefit. / dcb