social security - FOD Sociale Zekerheid

UnemploymentThe sector “unemployment” is principally discussed as to its major function of providing theworker with a replacement income in case of involuntary loss of salaried employment. However,the sector has a much larger action radius: support in case of temporary unemployment, supportin case of partial or total interruption of work (career interruption/time credit), support in caseof partial resumption of work; it also provides support to persons who are in training and to babyminders; it also fosters the resumption of work for high-risk groups (activation) and supports thedevelopment of neighbourhood services (local employment offices and services cheques).In principle, the sector of unemployment is exclusively aimed at salaried employees. Selfemployedpeople cannot resort to the unemployment scheme, as they do not pay anycontributions for it. However, self-employed persons who cease work, but who have worked assalaried persons before (or who have been unemployed), can still be entitled to unemploymentbenefits on particular conditions. Although they do not contribute to the unemployment schemeeither, permanently appointed civil servants benefit from a specific scheme which enables them(under certain conditions) to be entitled to unemployment benefits in case of dismissal. For themilitary, there is a similar scheme.All salaried work which is subject to social security contributions for the sector of unemploymentcan thus open the entitlement to unemployment benefits. This is e.g. not the case for "occasionalwork", for student work and for domestic staff work (when the domestic worker does not live inthe house of his employer and does not work more than four hours a day in the service of oneemployer or at least 24 hours per week in the service of several employers).A. Eligibility and granting conditionsThe mere fact that a person is subject to the social security scheme for salaried persons does notgrant entitlement to unemployment benefits. The person concerned must also prove a sufficientnumber of worked days or assimilated working days during a particular reference period.This reference period is the period preceding the application for unemployment benefits. Boththe required number of working days and the duration of the reference period depend on the ageat the time of application. This is shown in the table below:Age group Number of worked or assimilated working days Reference periodYounger than 36 years 312 days 18 monthsFrom 36 to 49 years 468 days 27 months50 years and older 624 days 36 months27