SSS boosts social protection of temporary state workers

MANILA, Philippines —  State-run pension fund Social Security System (SSS) is boosting the social protection of temporary state workers who are not covered by the current program of the government.

In a statement, SSS said it signed a memorandum of agreement with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) to ensure social coverage of job order (JO) and contract of service (COS) workers in the agency.

This is under the flagship SSS program through the KaSSSangga Collect.

The government hires JOs for just a short duration of not more than six months and workers are paid either on a daily or hourly basis. JOs usually perform special or technical skills that are not available in a certain agency.

COS, on the other hand, are workers that also undertake specific jobs but for a longer period of at least one year.

Although JOs and contract workers are employed in state agencies, they are not covered by the Government Service Insurance System.

Under the MOA, JO and COS workers of CFO will have access to SSS coverage by becoming self-employed members.

As self-employed members, they are entitled to receive social security benefits such as sickness, maternity, disability, retirement, funeral and death benefits.

They will also get additional coverage from the Employees’ Compensation Program for work-related contingencies and can apply for various member loans offered by SSS.

Under the agreement, the CFO will collect the monthly SSS contributions of the JO and COS workers through a salary deduction scheme and remit it to SSS.

The amount of monthly contribution will be based on the corresponding monthly salary credit of workers which is the salary level being used to determine the amount of contributions and benefits.

Currently, the minimum monthly contribution is P760 while the maximum amount is P5,280.