Document No. (7) 1999
Issued by Shanghai Municipal Government
To all District & County People’s Governments, Municipal Commissions, Offices and Bureaus:
The Provisions on Unemployment Insurance in Shanghai Municipality are hereunder promulgated.
Feb 5th, 1999, Shanghai Municipal Government
Provisions on Unemployment Insurance in Shanghai Municipality
Article 1 (Purposes and Legal Basis)
The Provisions are formulated in accordance with the Labour law of the People’s Republic of China, Rules on Unemployment Insurance and the Provisional Rules on the Collection of Social Insurance Contributions and in light of the actual situation of the Municipality so as to guarantee the basic living standards of the unemployed persons and promote the reemployment.
Article 2 (Scope of Coverage)
The Provisions apply to all enterprises, state organs, institutional organizations, social organizations and other entities approved by the municipal government (hereinafter referred to as “employing units”) and employees within the jurisdiction of the Municipality.
Article 3 (Sources of Fund)
The Sources of the unemployment insurance (hereinafter referred to as “UI”) fund include:
1. UI contributions from employing units and employees;
2. Interests of the UI fund;
3. Overdue fine;
4. Local fiscal subsidies in case of deficit of UI fund;
5. Other funds appropriated for the UI fund according to relevant laws and regulations.
Article 4(UI Registration)
All employing units covered by the Provisions shall complete UI registration for both the units and their employees with the social insurance operating agencies.
As to a newly established employing unit, the registration shall be completed within 30 days since the issue of its business license or approval of its establishment. In the event of separation, merger, bankruptcy or cancellation, the concerned employing units should alter or cancel the registration with the original operating agency accordingly within 30 days thereafter.
Article 5 (Contribution Rate and Basis)
The employing unit shall make UI contributions at the rate of 2% of the current month’s contribution basis, and the employees shall make UI contributions at the rate of 1% of their monthly contribution basis.
Contract workers of rural origin recruited by the employing units shall not make the UI contributions.
The contribution basis for unemployment insurance is defined according to that of the pension insurance.
Article 6 (Timing and Method of Contribution)
The employing units shall make UI contributions with the social insurance operating agencies, and the employees’ contributions shall be deducted by their employing units from their payroll on monthly basis.
Article 7 (Financial Source)
UI contributions by the employing units shall be sourced as per the following rules:
1. The enterprises shall make UI payments prior to taxations;
2. Payments by state organs, social organizations and institutional organizations shall be sourced from the administrative or institutional expenses.
Article 8 (Registration and Application for Unemployment Benefits)
Employees who are dismissed, or whose labour relations with their employing units have expired, shall be notified of their rights for unemployment benefits (hereafter referred to as “UB”) by their employing units, and thereupon, complete dismissal formalities through competent job centers of their work places within 15 days.
The unemployed shall complete unemployment registration and UB application through the competent district/county job centers in their registered residency within 30 days since the delivery of the notice of dismissal or expiration of labour relations from their employing units. The concerned unemployed shall present relevant documents that prove their unemployment status as they go through the registration and application formalities.
Persons sentenced to reeducation through labour or imprisonment during employment, who are now released therefrom, can file unemployment registration and UB application as prescribed in the Provisions within 30 days since their return to the original registered residency.
Article 9 (Verification of Claim)
The job centers shall verify and confirm the unemployment status of the unemployed within 15 days since acceptance of the UB application, and shall confirm the duration and standard of the UB entitlement for those who meet the UI requirements.
Article 10 (Eligibility for UB)
The unemployed meeting all the following conditions are entitled to UB:
1. Suspension of employment due to involuntary causes during statutory working age;
2. Possession of permanent registered residency within the municipality;
3. Due contributions to unemployment insurance during employment period;
4. At least one-year contribution to unemployment insurance before dismissal or termination of labour relations; and
5. Completion of unemployment registration and application as per the Provision as well as possession of willingness for reemployment.
The unemployed persons are entitled to other unemployment treatment as per the Provisions during their unemployment benefit claim period.
Article 11 (Determination of UB Duration)
The claim duration of UB shall be defined according to the accumulated unemployment insurance contribution period prior to unemployment (deducting the contribution years for previous claim or claims). A contribution period of over one year but less than 2 years entitles a claim of 2 months, and contribution of each subsequent year entitles 2 additional months to the claim duration. An accumulated contribution duration of over one year but less than 5 years effects a maximum 12-month claim period, and an accumulated contribution period of over 5 years but less than 10 years effects a maximum 18-month claim duration, while for an over 10-year contribution period, the maximum claim duration is 24 months.
A less-than-one year consecutive unemployment insurance contribution by the unemployed person shall be regarded as one-year contribution of unemployment insurance provided that his accumulated contribution is over one year but less than 2 years.
Article 12 (Summing of Entitlement Terms)
The term of an unemployed person’s unclaimed entitlement may be preserved. In examining the entitlement term of a reemployed person with at least one year contribution to unemployment insurance who loses job again, all his/her previous residual entitlement terms shall be summed up. Thereafter, the maximum consecutive UI entitlement term for the unemployed shall not exceed 24 months.
Article 13 (Standards of UB)
The sum of UB in the period from the first month to the twelfth month shall be defined by the applicant’s contribution period; while in the period of the thirteenth month to the twenty-forth month, the standard shall be 80% of that in the period of the first to the twelfth month.
The standard of monthly UB shall be under the current year’s municipal minimum monthly wage standard, but exceed the current year’s subsistence subsidy for urban residents.
Article 14 (Claim of UB)
Upon application for UB, the unemployed may make claims from the second month since the eligibility confirmation, while the starting date of unemployment entitlement claim shall be defined as the date on which the application is accepted.
The UB shall be distributed by job centers on monthly basis.
Article 15 (Suspension of UB)
UB shall be suspended under these following circumstances, and the outstanding benefits under the remaining term can be claimed later if the worker gets unemployed again:
1. Conscription;
2. Enrollment in full-time secondary education or higher ones;
3. Engagement in paid work; or
4. Reeducation-through-labour or Imprisonment upon conviction.
Article 16 (Termination of UB)
Under any of these following circumstances, UB shall be terminated:
1. Attainment of statutory retirement age;
2. Emigration; or
3. Unjustifiable refusal of employment opportunities offered by job centers for 3 times.
Article 17 (Maternity Subsidy)
Female unemployed who comply with state family-planning regulations are entitled to three months of maternity subsidies in case that childbirth arises during the claim period. The standards of the maternity subsidies are equivalent to those of UB.
Article 18 (Medical Subsidy)
In case that childbirth or disease occur during their unemployment benefit claim period, UB claimants can go to hospitals located in their registered residency or other designated hospitals for medical treatment, and claim medical subsidies from competent job centers accordingly. However, the subsidies shall not apply to claimants who do not comply with family-planning regulations, or whose injuries are suffered as a result of scuffles or engagement in other illegal acts.
The medical subsidy to the unemployed is 70% of their actual medical expenses. The claimants can apply to the competent job centers for additional medical subsidies in case that the medical expenses go far beyond their means.
Article 19 (Funeral Subsidy and Survivor’s Allowance)
In case that the UB claimant deceases during the claim period, his or her dependants can apply to the competent job center for funeral subsidy and survivor’s allowance in lump sum. However, in the case of killing due to scuffle or other illegal acts, the subsidy and allowance shall not be granted.
The standard of the lump-sum funeral subsidy and survivor’s allowance for the UB claimant is in line with that of the employed workers in the municipality.
Article 20 (Unemployment Allowance)
The unemployed who are not entitled to UB can make applications for one to six months of unemployment allowances to the job centers in the locality of their registered residency in any of these following conditions:
1. The applicant has met the first, second, third and fifth clauses of Article 10 in the Provisions, and has special subsistence difficulties, with the consecutive contributing years of UI less than I year;
2. On the expiration of the claimant’s UB entitlement, the applicant still has subsistence difficulties such as serious diseases or other adversities that frustrate any effort for immediate reemployment; or
3. The applicant is of rural origin in the Municipality, and was once employed by an enterprise on a contract basis for at least one consecutive year with his/her UI contributions duly made, and who, in the absence of any income support, faces imminent subsistence difficulties after returning to his or her registered residency after expiration or termination of the labour contract.
The standard of unemployment allowance is equivalent to the current year’s subsistence guarantee for urban residents of the municipality.
The unemployed who meet the conditions set forth in the first clause of this article can apply for 3 months of maternity or medical subsidies according to Article 17 or 18 of the Provisions in case that such contingencies occur during the unemployment allowance entitlement term. The standard of the claimant’s maternity subsidy is equivalent to that of the unemployment allowance.
Aged unemployed with a long period of unemployment insurance contribution can apply for both UB and unemployment subsidies, while the maximum standard of the unemployment subsidies shall not exceed 25% of current year’s minimum wage in the municipality.
Article 21 (Claims for Business Initiation Support)
The unemployed approved by competent authorities to start their own private enterprises, self-employed businesses, or informal businesses during their UB entitlement period can claim all their remaining UB in lump sum as financial support to initiate their own businesses with their business licenses or other valid certificates.
Article 22 (Special Provision on Workers Approaching Retirement Age)
On expiration of the regular unemployment benefit entitlement, a grace period of UB may be extended to the claimants whose reemployment efforts are frustrated by involuntary causes; and who are within 2 years to the statutory retirement age, or who have some particular causes, until the claimants reach the specific statutory retirement age. The standard of the benefits during the grace period shall rate 80% of the amount received during the previous claim period from the 13th month to 24th month, but shall not be less than the current year’s subsistence guarantee standard for urban residents in the Municipality.
Article 23 (Retirement of Unemployed People)
UB entitlement shall be terminated when the claimant reaches the statutory retirement age. Upon the eligibility confirmation by the competent social insurance administrative agencies, those concerned shall claim old-age pensions on monthly basis.
Article 24 (Employment Services)
The Job Centers shall facilitate re-employment of the unemployed by providing them with services such as vocational training, job matching and career guidance, etc.
Article 25 (Utilization of the UI Fund)
The unemployment insurance fund shall be used for the following purposes:
1. UB;
2. Medical and maternity subsidies during the UB entitlement period;
3. Funeral subsidies and survivor’s allowance to the deceased claimant’s spouse and dependants;
4. Unemployment allowance; and
5. Job centers’ expenditures for vocational training, job matching, and career guidance.
Article 26 (Pooling and Taxation)
The unemployment insurance fund is established on pooling basis at the municipal level.
The fund is exempt from taxation.
Article 27 (Funding of Job Centers)
The budgets of the Job Centers are subject to the confirmation and surveillance of the Shanghai Municipal Labour and Social Security Bureau and the Municipal Finance Bureau.
Article 28 (Administrative Penalties)
Any violation of the Provisions are subject to penalties enforced by competent labour and social security authorities as per relevant stipulations under the Regulations on Unemployment Insurance or the Provisional Rules on the Collection of Social Insurance Contributions.
Article 29 (Dispute Settlement)
In case of disputes arising out of unemployment insurance between the employee and the employing unit, the concerned employee can submit the case to the district/county labour arbitration tribunal situated in the locality of the employing unit. In case the employees or employers are not satisfied with the award from the arbitration tribunal, either party can submit the case to the competent people’s court for a judicial verdict within 15 days since the delivery of the award.
Article 30 (Sanctions on Illegal Acts by Administrative Agencies)
The Labour and Social Insurance Authorities, Job Centers and their working staff shall supervise and manage the UI fund in compliance with relevant state or municipal laws and regulations, and shall not handle or appropriate the fund for other purposes. Any violation of the laws or regulations shall result in penalty, or even criminal punishment as per the nature of the violation.
Article 31 (Definition of Nominal Contribution Period)
The years of service before October 1st, 1998 of an employed worker shall be regarded as the contribution years for UI.
Article 32 (Other Issues)
The Provisions also apply to the urban self-employed workers, and their helpers within the municipality, and the employees possessing the municipality’s urban registered residency who work in other employing organizations or the Shanghai-stationed agencies of other provinces or municipalities.
Article 33 (Authority of Legal Interpretation)
Shanghai Municipal Labour and Social Security Bureau is the competent authority in charge of interpreting issues arising out of the Provisions.
Article 34 (Effective Date)
These Provisions shall become effective as of April 1st, 1999, and the Shanghai Municipal Regulation on Unemployment Insurance issued on October 15th, 1992, revised and reenacted on August 9th, 1995 by Shanghai Municipal Government shall meanwhile be annulled.
Document No. (7) 1999
Issued by Shanghai Municipal Government
To all District & County People’s Governments, Municipal Commissions, Offices and Bureaus:
The Provisions on Unemployment Insurance in Shanghai Municipality are hereunder promulgated.
Feb 5th, 1999, Shanghai Municipal Government
Provisions on Unemployment Insurance in Shanghai Municipality
Article 1 (Purposes and Legal Basis)
The Provisions are formulated in accordance with the Labour law of the People’s Republic of China, Rules on Unemployment Insurance and the Provisional Rules on the Collection of Social Insurance Contributions and in light of the actual situation of the Municipality so as to guarantee the basic living standards of the unemployed persons and promote the reemployment.
Article 2 (Scope of Coverage)
The Provisions apply to all enterprises, state organs, institutional organizations, social organizations and other entities approved by the municipal government (hereinafter referred to as “employing units”) and employees within the jurisdiction of the Municipality.
Article 3 (Sources of Fund)
The Sources of the unemployment insurance (hereinafter referred to as “UI”) fund include:
1. UI contributions from employing units and employees;
2. Interests of the UI fund;
3. Overdue fine;
4. Local fiscal subsidies in case of deficit of UI fund;
5. Other funds appropriated for the UI fund according to relevant laws and regulations.
Article 4(UI Registration)
All employing units covered by the Provisions shall complete UI registration for both the units and their employees with the social insurance operating agencies.
As to a newly established employing unit, the registration shall be completed within 30 days since the issue of its business license or approval of its establishment. In the event of separation, merger, bankruptcy or cancellation, the concerned employing units should alter or cancel the registration with the original operating agency accordingly within 30 days thereafter.
Article 5 (Contribution Rate and Basis)
The employing unit shall make UI contributions at the rate of 2% of the current month’s contribution basis, and the employees shall make UI contributions at the rate of 1% of their monthly contribution basis.
Contract workers of rural origin recruited by the employing units shall not make the UI contributions.
The contribution basis for unemployment insurance is defined according to that of the pension insurance.
Article 6 (Timing and Method of Contribution)
The employing units shall make UI contributions with the social insurance operating agencies, and the employees’ contributions shall be deducted by their employing units from their payroll on monthly basis.
Article 7 (Financial Source)
UI contributions by the employing units shall be sourced as per the following rules:
1. The enterprises shall make UI payments prior to taxations;
2. Payments by state organs, social organizations and institutional organizations shall be sourced from the administrative or institutional expenses.
Article 8 (Registration and Application for Unemployment Benefits)
Employees who are dismissed, or whose labour relations with their employing units have expired, shall be notified of their rights for unemployment benefits (hereafter referred to as “UB”) by their employing units, and thereupon, complete dismissal formalities through competent job centers of their work places within 15 days.
The unemployed shall complete unemployment registration and UB application through the competent district/county job centers in their registered residency within 30 days since the delivery of the notice of dismissal or expiration of labour relations from their employing units. The concerned unemployed shall present relevant documents that prove their unemployment status as they go through the registration and application formalities.
Persons sentenced to reeducation through labour or imprisonment during employment, who are now released therefrom, can file unemployment registration and UB application as prescribed in the Provisions within 30 days since their return to the original registered residency.
Article 9 (Verification of Claim)
The job centers shall verify and confirm the unemployment status of the unemployed within 15 days since acceptance of the UB application, and shall confirm the duration and standard of the UB entitlement for those who meet the UI requirements.
Article 10 (Eligibility for UB)
The unemployed meeting all the following conditions are entitled to UB:
1. Suspension of employment due to involuntary causes during statutory working age;
2. Possession of permanent registered residency within the municipality;
3. Due contributions to unemployment insurance during employment period;
4. At least one-year contribution to unemployment insurance before dismissal or termination of labour relations; and
5. Completion of unemployment registration and application as per the Provision as well as possession of willingness for reemployment.
The unemployed persons are entitled to other unemployment treatment as per the Provisions during their unemployment benefit claim period.
Article 11 (Determination of UB Duration)
The claim duration of UB shall be defined according to the accumulated unemployment insurance contribution period prior to unemployment (deducting the contribution years for previous claim or claims). A contribution period of over one year but less than 2 years entitles a claim of 2 months, and contribution of each subsequent year entitles 2 additional months to the claim duration. An accumulated contribution duration of over one year but less than 5 years effects a maximum 12-month claim period, and an accumulated contribution period of over 5 years but less than 10 years effects a maximum 18-month claim duration, while for an over 10-year contribution period, the maximum claim duration is 24 months.
A less-than-one year consecutive unemployment insurance contribution by the unemployed person shall be regarded as one-year contribution of unemployment insurance provided that his accumulated contribution is over one year but less than 2 years.
Article 12 (Summing of Entitlement Terms)
The term of an unemployed person’s unclaimed entitlement may be preserved. In examining the entitlement term of a reemployed person with at least one year contribution to unemployment insurance who loses job again, all his/her previous residual entitlement terms shall be summed up. Thereafter, the maximum consecutive UI entitlement term for the unemployed shall not exceed 24 months.
Article 13 (Standards of UB)
The sum of UB in the period from the first month to the twelfth month shall be defined by the applicant’s contribution period; while in the period of the thirteenth month to the twenty-forth month, the standard shall be 80% of that in the period of the first to the twelfth month.
The standard of monthly UB shall be under the current year’s municipal minimum monthly wage standard, but exceed the current year’s subsistence subsidy for urban residents.
Article 14 (Claim of UB)
Upon application for UB, the unemployed may make claims from the second month since the eligibility confirmation, while the starting date of unemployment entitlement claim shall be defined as the date on which the application is accepted.
The UB shall be distributed by job centers on monthly basis.
Article 15 (Suspension of UB)
UB shall be suspended under these following circumstances, and the outstanding benefits under the remaining term can be claimed later if the worker gets unemployed again:
1. Conscription;
2. Enrollment in full-time secondary education or higher ones;
3. Engagement in paid work; or
4. Reeducation-through-labour or Imprisonment upon conviction.
Article 16 (Termination of UB)
Under any of these following circumstances, UB shall be terminated:
1. Attainment of statutory retirement age;
2. Emigration; or
3. Unjustifiable refusal of employment opportunities offered by job centers for 3 times.
Article 17 (Maternity Subsidy)
Female unemployed who comply with state family-planning regulations are entitled to three months of maternity subsidies in case that childbirth arises during the claim period. The standards of the maternity subsidies are equivalent to those of UB.
Article 18 (Medical Subsidy)
In case that childbirth or disease occur during their unemployment benefit claim period, UB claimants can go to hospitals located in their registered residency or other designated hospitals for medical treatment, and claim medical subsidies from competent job centers accordingly. However, the subsidies shall not apply to claimants who do not comply with family-planning regulations, or whose injuries are suffered as a result of scuffles or engagement in other illegal acts.
The medical subsidy to the unemployed is 70% of their actual medical expenses. The claimants can apply to the competent job centers for additional medical subsidies in case that the medical expenses go far beyond their means.
Article 19 (Funeral Subsidy and Survivor’s Allowance)
In case that the UB claimant deceases during the claim period, his or her dependants can apply to the competent job center for funeral subsidy and survivor’s allowance in lump sum. However, in the case of killing due to scuffle or other illegal acts, the subsidy and allowance shall not be granted.
The standard of the lump-sum funeral subsidy and survivor’s allowance for the UB claimant is in line with that of the employed workers in the municipality.
Article 20 (Unemployment Allowance)
The unemployed who are not entitled to UB can make applications for one to six months of unemployment allowances to the job centers in the locality of their registered residency in any of these following conditions:
1. The applicant has met the first, second, third and fifth clauses of Article 10 in the Provisions, and has special subsistence difficulties, with the consecutive contributing years of UI less than I year;
2. On the expiration of the claimant’s UB entitlement, the applicant still has subsistence difficulties such as serious diseases or other adversities that frustrate any effort for immediate reemployment; or
3. The applicant is of rural origin in the Municipality, and was once employed by an enterprise on a contract basis for at least one consecutive year with his/her UI contributions duly made, and who, in the absence of any income support, faces imminent subsistence difficulties after returning to his or her registered residency after expiration or termination of the labour contract.
The standard of unemployment allowance is equivalent to the current year’s subsistence guarantee for urban residents of the municipality.
The unemployed who meet the conditions set forth in the first clause of this article can apply for 3 months of maternity or medical subsidies according to Article 17 or 18 of the Provisions in case that such contingencies occur during the unemployment allowance entitlement term. The standard of the claimant’s maternity subsidy is equivalent to that of the unemployment allowance.
Aged unemployed with a long period of unemployment insurance contribution can apply for both UB and unemployment subsidies, while the maximum standard of the unemployment subsidies shall not exceed 25% of current year’s minimum wage in the municipality.
Article 21 (Claims for Business Initiation Support)
The unemployed approved by competent authorities to start their own private enterprises, self-employed businesses, or informal businesses during their UB entitlement period can claim all their remaining UB in lump sum as financial support to initiate their own businesses with their business licenses or other valid certificates.
Article 22 (Special Provision on Workers Approaching Retirement Age)
On expiration of the regular unemployment benefit entitlement, a grace period of UB may be extended to the claimants whose reemployment efforts are frustrated by involuntary causes; and who are within 2 years to the statutory retirement age, or who have some particular causes, until the claimants reach the specific statutory retirement age. The standard of the benefits during the grace period shall rate 80% of the amount received during the previous claim period from the 13th month to 24th month, but shall not be less than the current year’s subsistence guarantee standard for urban residents in the Municipality.
Article 23 (Retirement of Unemployed People)
UB entitlement shall be terminated when the claimant reaches the statutory retirement age. Upon the eligibility confirmation by the competent social insurance administrative agencies, those concerned shall claim old-age pensions on monthly basis.
Article 24 (Employment Services)
The Job Centers shall facilitate re-employment of the unemployed by providing them with services such as vocational training, job matching and career guidance, etc.
Article 25 (Utilization of the UI Fund)
The unemployment insurance fund shall be used for the following purposes:
1. UB;
2. Medical and maternity subsidies during the UB entitlement period;
3. Funeral subsidies and survivor’s allowance to the deceased claimant’s spouse and dependants;
4. Unemployment allowance; and
5. Job centers’ expenditures for vocational training, job matching, and career guidance.
Article 26 (Pooling and Taxation)
The unemployment insurance fund is established on pooling basis at the municipal level.
The fund is exempt from taxation.
Article 27 (Funding of Job Centers)
The budgets of the Job Centers are subject to the confirmation and surveillance of the Shanghai Municipal Labour and Social Security Bureau and the Municipal Finance Bureau.
Article 28 (Administrative Penalties)
Any violation of the Provisions are subject to penalties enforced by competent labour and social security authorities as per relevant stipulations under the Regulations on Unemployment Insurance or the Provisional Rules on the Collection of Social Insurance Contributions.
Article 29 (Dispute Settlement)
In case of disputes arising out of unemployment insurance between the employee and the employing unit, the concerned employee can submit the case to the district/county labour arbitration tribunal situated in the locality of the employing unit. In case the employees or employers are not satisfied with the award from the arbitration tribunal, either party can submit the case to the competent people’s court for a judicial verdict within 15 days since the delivery of the award.
Article 30 (Sanctions on Illegal Acts by Administrative Agencies)
The Labour and Social Insurance Authorities, Job Centers and their working staff shall supervise and manage the UI fund in compliance with relevant state or municipal laws and regulations, and shall not handle or appropriate the fund for other purposes. Any violation of the laws or regulations shall result in penalty, or even criminal punishment as per the nature of the violation.
Article 31 (Definition of Nominal Contribution Period)
The years of service before October 1st, 1998 of an employed worker shall be regarded as the contribution years for UI.
Article 32 (Other Issues)
The Provisions also apply to the urban self-employed workers, and their helpers within the municipality, and the employees possessing the municipality’s urban registered residency who work in other employing organizations or the Shanghai-stationed agencies of other provinces or municipalities.
Article 33 (Authority of Legal Interpretation)
Shanghai Municipal Labour and Social Security Bureau is the competent authority in charge of interpreting issues arising out of the Provisions.
Article 34 (Effective Date)
These Provisions shall become effective as of April 1st, 1999, and the Shanghai Municipal Regulation on Unemployment Insurance issued on October 15th, 1992, revised and reenacted on August 9th, 1995 by Shanghai Municipal Government shall meanwhile be annulled.
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