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Michael has been working for the same company for over 10 years. The company has run into difficulties and 12 months ago it temporarily reduced the number of days employees work each week from 5 days to 3 days. When this happened Michael went to his Social Welfare Local Office where he was assessed for Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB).

As Michael’s number of days at work had been reduced temporarily from 5 days per week to 3 days per week he was assessed as a systematic short time worker and got two-fifths of the maximum weekly rate of Jobseeker’s Benefit for the two days he was unemployed.

Michael has been getting Jobseeker’s Benefit for a year and wants to know how long he can continue to get Jobseeker’s Benefit?

Answer

The number of days a person can claim Jobseeker’s Benefit (JB) depends on a number of factors, because Michael has over 260 PRSI contributions he has an entitlement to 312 days JB. He is only claiming 2 days JB every week. Divide 312 by the number of days he claims JB each week to find the potential number of week he could claim JB.

312 ÷ 2 = 156 weeks

This means, he could potentially claim JB for 156 weeks, that is 3 years. However, 3 years is not short term and Michael is currently being assessed as temporarily laid off from work i.e. as a systematic short time worker.

The Department of Social Protection (DSP) will reassess a systematic short time worker’s JB claim if it goes on for an extended period. If DSP decide that it is unlikely he will return to full-time work with that company in the short term, he will be reassessed as a part-time worker and will have to meet the conditions for JB to continue to get JB.

DSP uses a 5 day working week for short-time working and 6 days for part-time. If Michael is reassessed as a part-time worker and continues to work 3 days per week for his employer, he will get 3 days JB because according to DSP rules he is unemployed for 3 days out of 6.

For the last 12 months (52 weeks) Michael has been getting 2 days Jobseeker’s Benefit for systematic short time work. To find out how many days JB he has used to date, multiply the number of days JB he gets each week by the number of weeks he is claiming JB.

2 x 52 = 104

He has used up 104 days of his Jobseeker’s Benefit.

To find the number of days he has left on his JB claim, subtract the number of days he has used (104 days) from the maximum number he can claim (312 days).

312 – 104 = 208 days

This means, he has 208 days of Jobseeker’s Benefit remaining.

If he is reassessed as a part-time worker and continues his current work pattern and continues to qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit, he will have 208 days of JB remaining. Divide 208 by the number of days he claims JB each week to find the number of weeks left on his JB claim.

208 ÷ 3 = 69 weeks (approx)

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