What is the Unemployment Act?
The WW is an unemployment law established in 1949 that provides temporary unemployment benefits to unemployed workers. This law is administered by the UWV; they also pay WW benefits to the claimant.
A (former) employee submits the application for WW benefits himself; the UWV assesses whether someone is entitled to WW, the length and the amount of the WW benefit.
Conditions of unemployment benefit
A person must meet a number of conditions before receiving unemployment benefits;
- Be insured for unemployment;
- loses 5 hours or more of work hours per week and is no longer entitled to pay for those hours;
- To be immediately available for work;
- Worked at least 26 weeks in the 36 weeks before the applicant became unemployed (weeks requirement);
- Did not become unemployed through his own fault.
The length of unemployment benefits was phased out by the government last year. Until January 1, 2016, a person was entitled to a maximum of 38 months of WW. From January 1, 2016 to April 1, 2019, this was reduced to a maximum of 24 months.
WW benefit level
The amount of WW benefit depends in part on the wages of the previous period when a person became unemployed. The amount of the benefit is linked, among other things, to the maximum daily wage. The first months the benefit is 75%, the following months 70%.
