The government approved unemployment benefits for victims of domestic violence

This Thursday, the Council of Ministers approved a decree-law that expands unemployment benefits for victims of domestic violence, and will also allow long-term unemployed people to accumulate wages using part of this social benefit.

“This decree-law extends the legal regime of social protection in case of unemployment to workers who have the status of victims of domestic violence,” says the message published following the meeting of the Council of Ministers.

An official source at the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security told Lusa that “people with the status of victims of domestic violence, if they terminate their employment contract, are treated like situations of involuntary unemployment, having access to unemployment benefits, even if the termination of the contract is on your initiative” .

Unemployment benefits are assigned “depending on the work activity of a person who has the status of a victim of domestic violence,” the department added.

“The status of a victim of domestic violence is granted in accordance with Article 14 of Law No. 112/2009 of 16 September, which establishes the legal regime applicable to the prevention of domestic violence, the protection and assistance of its victims.”

An extension of unemployment benefits for victims of domestic violence was planned for more than a year as part of the 2022 state budget, following a proposal by Livre.

The decree-law, approved this Thursday by the Council of Ministers, also provides for “an exceptional measure to encourage the return to work of the long-term unemployed,” the government said in a statement.

This measure was provided for in the framework of the Decent Work Program and the income agreement signed as part of the Social Agreement with certain social partners.

“The diploma establishes a new mechanism that allows you to partially accumulate the amount of unemployment benefits with income from work, facilitating the employment of the long-term unemployed and their reintegration into the labor market,” says the executive director.

“This pilot regime will be applied in 2024 and 2025, and evaluation will be carried out in 2026,” he said.

This measure has already been presented by the government to the social partners and, according to a document released in January, it will only apply to fixed-term contracts lasting six months or more.

Recipients of the measure are unemployed people who have received unemployment benefits for more than 12 months.

In case of signing an open-ended contract, the document presented to the partners provides for the payment of 65% of unemployment benefits “for situations in which the recipient agrees to leave the situation of unemployment, starting from the 13th month.”

The percentage will be reduced depending on the month in which the beneficiary began the employment relationship, with 65% of the benefit being paid in the period from the 13th to the 18th month; 45% between 19 and 24 months and 25% between 25 months and the end of the grace period.

In these situations with an open-ended contract, the maximum acceptable salary is 3,040 euros, but during the period of this measure it becomes 3,800 euros, “to encourage wage increases,” the government said in a statement to the social partners.

In fixed-term contracts, the amount of the incentive will depend on the initial duration of the contract.

Labor Minister Ana Mendes Godinho said at the time that the incentive for long-term unemployed people to return to the labor market would come into effect in the second half of 2023.