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| Sunday, 21 December 2003 |
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Relief for victimised private sector employees BY DON ASOKA WIJEWARDENA Private sector employees who lose their jobs due to unfair dismissals or through the sudden closure of organisations, will be paid an allowance commensurate with their salaries for a period of six months through the Unemployment Benefit Insurance scheme, scheduled to come into effect from January 2004. Unclaimed accounts in the Employees' Provident Fund will be utilised for this purpose. Parliament has also approved that retrenched private sector employees be provided with suitable employment within six months under the "Job net" scheme. Minister of Employment and Labour, Mahinda Samarasinghe, told the 'Sunday Observer' that on his request, Cabinet had approved this new project for private employees who were being made redundant or lost their jobs due to sudden closure of organisations, especially multilateral factories. He said that the Unemployment Benefit Insurance Scheme would come into effect in January 2004 and that approximately Rs 4500 million from unclaimed deposits in the EPF would be used to redress those victimised employees for a six-month period. Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Employment and Labour, M. A. R. D. Jayatilaka, said that the Unemployment Benefit Insurance scheme was the first of its kind to be introduced in Sri Lanka. The scheme was approved by the Cabinet in March 2003 under Employee Termination Amendment Act No. 12 of 2003,and the Industrial Dispute Amendment Act No. 11 of 2003. He said in addition to a monthly income and improved training facilities for victimised employees, other employees would also receive all due benefits under the "Social Security Net", which had been implemented to protect the legitimate rights of employees susceptible to such termination of services. |
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