ESIC to Settle Claims for Unemployment Benefit Within 15 Days, Says Labour Minister

Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar on Friday said that claims for payment of unemployment benefit under its Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana run by the ESIC will be settled within 15 days from the date of an application. The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) board on Thursday had relaxed norms to double payment of unemployment benefit under the scheme to 50 per cent of average wages of three months to cope with job loss between March 24 and December 31 this year in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Claims under the ESI Scheme for job loss benefit will be settled in 15 days. The relaxation in the Scheme will give relief to those ESI subscribers who lost their job during Covid-19 epidemic. The scheme now offers double the payment for three months at 50 per cent against 25 per cent earlier for the period March 24, 2020 to December 31, 2020,” Gangwar said.

Explaining further, the minister said, “The claims can be filed after 30 days from unemployment against 90 days earlier. The claims can be filed directly by workers whereas earlier they needed to be routed through employers.” Besides, he said that overall validity of the scheme has been extended by one year up to June 30, 2020.

Gangwar, who is also the chairman of the ESIC board, appealed to those covered under the scheme to avail the benefits. The ESIC board’s decision in a meeting held on Thursday is expected to benefit about 40 lakh industrial workers.

The ESIC on Thursday had approved relaxation in eligibility criteria and enhancement in the payment of unemployment benefit under its Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana. ESIC is implementing the Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyna Yojna under which unemployment benefit is paid to the workers covered under ESI scheme.

It was decided to relax the existing conditions and the amount of relief for workers who have lost employment during the COVID-19 pandemic period. After December 31, 2020, the scheme will be available with original eligibility condition during the period January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021.