No. 44 - Unemployment Provision, 1934 [Shelved]

Provisions

• Benefits or allowances are to be paid to the involuntarily unemployed, through a compulsory or voluntary insurance scheme or a combination of both, or through one of these forms of insurance combined with a complementary assistance scheme.
• This Convention specifies the categories of persons to be covered and the conditions they must meet to qualify for the benefit.
• It defines 'suitable employment' which the unemployed person may be required to accept, the grounds on which beneficiaries may lose their entitlement, the maximum duration of the benefit, the form of payment, and the rights of non-residents, frontier workers and foreigners.

Administered by

Ministry of Social Development

• Social Security Act 1964

How New Zealand implements it

• The Unemployment Benefit is the main form of income support for the unemployed, and is available to all people who meet the eligibility criteria. The Unemployment Benefit is funded from general taxation and there is no qualifying period of employment in order for an unemployed person to be eligible.
• A person is entitled to the Unemployment Benefit if he or she is not in full time employment; but available for and seeking it; willing and able to undertake it; and has taken reasonable steps to find it.
• An Unemployment Benefit may also be granted on the grounds of hardship.
• A person granted an Unemployment Benefit, is subject to a work test, which includes obligations to seek work, and undergo training. In some situations the work test also applies to the spouse of the recipient.
• Failure without good reason to meet the conditions of the work test will result in withdrawal of the benefit.
• In the following situations there is no entitlement to an Unemployment Benefit:
  • a full time student (except between academic years);
  • unemployed because of strike action either personally or by fellow members of the same employees' organisation at the same place of employment;
  • unemployed or on leave without pay for the purpose of undertaking employment-related training; or
  • has moved to an area with reduced employment prospects without good reason.
• A person is not entitled to an Unemployment Benefit for 13 weeks following the cessation of their employment:
  • If they have left their employment without good reason (including self-employed people who chose to sell or close down a viable business);
  • If they have lost their employment because of serious misconduct.
• However, during a 13 week non-entitlement period, a provisional benefit may be available, subject to satisfactory participation in a suitable job search activity.
• Entitlement to receive the Unemployment Benefit is subject to an income test, for which the income of both spouses is taken into account. If other income is sufficiently high to fully abate the benefit, the applicant would not be eligible for a payment.
• In some circumstances the Unemployment Benefit is subject to an asset test.
• Most applicants for an Unemployment Benefit are subject to a stand down (wait) period of between one and ten weeks. The length of the stand down is determined in relation to an applicant's income and family circumstances.
• There is no limit on the duration for which the Unemployment Benefit may be paid, provided the beneficiary continues to meet the eligibility criteria.
• A person can qualify for the non-work tested Sickness Benefit on the grounds of sickness, injury or disability.
• A person is entitled to a Sickness Benefit if he or she:
  • is not in full time employment, is willing to undertake it, but because of sickness, injury of disability is limited in his or her capacity to seek, undertake, or be available for it;
  • is in employment, but is losing earnings because of a reduced level of working due to sickness or injury.
• The following additional criteria for an Unemployment Benefit and Sickness Benefit also apply:
  • the person is aged 18 years or over, or 16 years or over and married^[1] and with one or more dependent children;
  • the person has resided continuously in New Zealand for at least two years at any one time;
  • the person has no income, or an income less than the amount that would result in their benefit being fully abated.
• Appeals against decisions on benefits can be taken to the independent Social Security Appeal Authority.
• In general, foreign employees who have a residence permit are entitled to income support on the grounds of unemployment only if they have been resident for two years. Income support can also be provided to people claiming refugee status who have a work permit, and to quota refugees. Foreign employees who are in New Zealand unlawfully, or only by virtue of a visitor's permit, or a permit to study, are not entitled to income support on the grounds of unemployment.

This Convention is not applicable to Tokelau.

Ratified - 29 March 1938

Total ratifications - 12

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