"Unfairly Fired..." Half of Involuntary Resignations Do Not Receive Unemployment Benefits

Cause of Employer's Abuse of Unemployment Benefit System

A survey revealed that one out of two workers who involuntarily lost their jobs did not receive unemployment benefits. The abuse of the unemployment benefit system by employers is a major factor.

On the 21st, the civic group Workplace Bullying 119 conducted a survey on unemployment benefits targeting 1,000 workers from December 4 to 11 last year. Among the 91 people who experienced involuntary job loss since January last year, 49 did not receive unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits can be received by those who lose their jobs involuntarily, such as through recommended resignation or dismissal, and are actively seeking employment.

Unemployment benefit applicants hoping to receive benefits are waiting to apply at the Employment Welfare Plus Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

When asked about job loss experiences since January last year, 1 in 10 (12.3%) reported having lost their jobs. Among them, 74.1% (91 people) said they left involuntarily due to dismissal, recommended or voluntary retirement, contract expiration, etc. However, more than half of these 91 involuntary leavers did not receive unemployment benefits. The main reason for eligible involuntary leavers not receiving unemployment benefits was that employers abused the system, according to the survey respondents.

According to related complaint cases disclosed by Workplace Bullying 119, employers effectively forced resignations by having employees submit resignation letters while actually dismissing them. One informant said, "I was notified of dismissal, and the HR manager suggested coordinating the resignation date. When I agreed, the company recorded the reason for leaving as personal circumstances. I was told not to come in and only decided the last working day myself, but is this really a resignation due to personal reasons?" expressing frustration.

There were also cases where the reasons for job separation or loss reports, which are requirements for unemployment benefits, were falsely recorded. Some employers proposed receiving unemployment benefits on the condition that workplace bullying would not be publicized, or employees were not enrolled in employment insurance, resulting in no unemployment benefit eligibility. Another informant lamented, "The company said they would provide unemployment benefits if the reason for leaving was recorded as personal reasons without mentioning workplace bullying, but since I recorded the reason as workplace bullying, they said they could not provide unemployment benefits."

Differences in employment types also affected unemployment benefit receipt. Among regular employees, 6 out of 10 (61.3%) said they received unemployment benefits, whereas among non-regular employees, 6 out of 10 (63.3%) said they did not receive unemployment benefits.

This situation has led to distrust in the government's unemployment benefit reform efforts. In the survey, 51.4% expressed concern that Korea's social security system is "insufficient." Regarding the government's push to lower or abolish the minimum unemployment benefit amount, 64% responded "do not agree," which is 28 percentage points higher than the 36% who "agree."

Workplace Bullying 119 pointed out, "The government is currently emphasizing the reduction or abolition of the minimum unemployment benefit amount as part of the unemployment benefit system improvement plan. If fiscal stabilization is pursued only by easily reducing benefit amounts and recipients, the purpose of the system?introduced to reduce livelihood insecurity for unemployed workers and support reemployment?cannot be fulfilled." They added, "The government should first consider how to prevent involuntary job separations and non-receipt of unemployment benefits."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.