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Approximately six-thousand Jordanian housewives have subscribed to the voluntary social security scheme after the new Social Security Law took effect on the 1st of May 2011, the SSC press statement indicates.
The press statement also mentioned that the new Social Security Law gives housewives the right to voluntarily contribute to old-age, disability and death insurances, which contribute to providing social protection to this category and providing them with pensions in order to guarantee them a safe secured future. This is considered to be a quantum leap in the field of insurance and social protection provided by the Jordanian insurance system. It now emulates the insurance services and social security provided by developed countries. Furthermore, this procedure comes under the corporation’s plans to expand the scope of expansive insurance coverage and the efforts to cover all Jordanians under the umbrella of social security.
The press statement also stated that by redefining the concept of the insured, to a normal individual instead of a paid employee in the new Social Security Law; allows housewives to be able to voluntarily contribute to social security; whereas the Social Security Law No. 19 of 2001 did not give women the right to voluntarily contribute, as being employed was a prerequisite to registering with social security. Jordanian housewives are also entitled to voluntarily contribute to old-age, obligatory old-age retirement, early retirement, full natural disability, and death insurances by completing an application for contribution in any of the corporation’s branches or offices in all of the Kingdom’s governorates or via offices authorized by the corporation outside the Kingdom in Kuwait, United Arab of Emirates, Qatar, Sultanate of Oman and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The press statement pointed out that insurance regulations apply on the housewife from the beginning of the month that she completes the contribution application, after the corporation’s approval of her request, provided that the contribution for the first month is paid during the first fifteen days of the following month of the date of application.
With respect to the monthly wage upon which contributions are determined, the voluntary contribution regulations, for the first time, gives women who apply for the voluntary contribution an opportunity to determine their minimum wage, provided that it is not less than the determined minimum wage of JD 150 and is not more than five times of the average wage that is currently JD 2040. In case the female applicant is already covered by Social Security Law, she is entitled to choose to be covered according to her last monthly wage that the contributions were paid for when she ceased work or stopped her voluntary contributions, or according to the increasing of her wage that the contributions paid for, by not more than (10%) per annum for each year of her discontinuation period of paid contributions with a maximum increase of ten times. The insured female that has already registered with social security has the right to decrease her wage by a certain percentage in accordance with the executive instructions of the voluntary contribution.
The housewife who voluntarily contributes to insurance commits to pay a monthly contribution of (14.5%) of her monthly wage that is subject to deduction. It is to be paid during the first fifteen days of the following month of entitlement. In case she fails to pay her contribution on time she will be subjected to (1%) delay interest. Also, she may be entitled to pay an advanced payment and increase her wage that is subject to the deduction with a rate not exceeding 10% annually, in January of each year provided she requests this increase by the 15 of March of that year. Nevertheless, she may also cancel her wage increase request within the same period of the same year.
The years of voluntary contribution are actual contribution periods. During this period the housewife is entitled to extend her contribution period beyond the statutory age to complete the legal period for entitlement to the old-age pension or to increase the old-age pension. She is also entitled to complete the legal period for entitlement to the pension through inclusion of previous periods of service upon her reaching the statutory age (55 years). That said, the corporation stated that housewives should feel free to contact the call center on the tollfree numbers (080022025) and (065008080), if they have any queries about the subject of voluntary contribution and the benefits and privileges entitled to them.
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