KUALA LUMPUR: The Employment Insurance System Bill (EIS), which aims to protect those who have lost their source of income, was tabled in Parliament today.
The bill seeks to better protect over 6.5 million local workers in the private sector through unemployment benefits for between three to six months.
It also proposed that those who are laid-off, resigned due to certain reasons and those undergoing voluntary or mandatory separation schemes would be covered under the job-loss coverage system.
Under the EIS, those affected would be entitled to job search and training allowances.
In the first month of unemployment, they would receive a payment of the job search allowance of 80 per cent of their last salary, up to RM4,000.
In the second month, it would then be reduced to 50 per cent, 40 per cent in third and fourth months, and 30 per cent in the fifth and sixth months.
The bill was tabled for its first reading by Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot in the Dewan Rakyat, today.
On May 1, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that the government had allocated RM70 million for interest payment under the EIS for private sector employees who would get better protection under the existing Employees' Social Security Act 1969.
It was mooted in 2014 to protect employees facing retrenchment and is expected to be enforced on Jan 1 next year.