I lost my job

21 steps across 10 agencies

There is money you are owed by your employer, money you can claim from SSS or GSIS, and help you can apply for. They are three different queues.

Clocks that are already running

Final pay release: 30 days from separation
Certificate of employment: 3 days from request
GSIS unemployment benefit: needs 1 year of contributions

Each is sourced on the guide it belongs to. This page states no figure of its own.

01First, what your employer still owes you

This is a debt, not a benefit. It does not depend on why you left.

Final payDue within 30 days of separation under DOLE Labor Advisory 06-20, whatever the reason for leaving.30 daysSeparation payOnly for authorised causes. Half a month or one month per year of service, depending on the ground.Pro-rated 13th month payResignation does not forfeit it. The proportionate amount for the months you worked is still due, and it is the item most often left out of a final pay computation.BIR Form 2316Your employer's certificate of tax withheld. You will need it for your next job and your own return.

02Check the arithmetic before you sign

A quitclaim is signed once. Work out what you are owed before you accept a figure someone else computed.

Final pay calculatorYou enter the current rates and confirm them. Nothing is baked in.Separation pay calculatorHalf a month or one month per year of service, depending on the ground.13th month pay calculatorFor the pro-rated portion owed on separation.

03If your employer will not pay

Start at the labour desk, not the court. A labour money claim has to pass through conciliation before a case can be filed at all.

File a SEnA request for assistanceMandatory conciliation at a DOLE, NCMB or NLRC desk. It is free, you appear yourself, and a settlement reached there is final and immediately executory.30 daysSmall claims courtMoney claims up to a million pesos, no lawyers representing the parties, and no appeal from the decision.

04Then claim against what you paid into

SSS unemployment benefitFor involuntary separation from a private-sector job.GSIS involuntary separation benefit50% of average monthly compensation, for 2 to 6 months, where a government post was abolished.

05Keep your coverage from lapsing

Employment paid these for you. Nobody tells you they have stopped.

Keep paying SSS as a voluntary memberA gap in contributions reaches forward into sickness, maternity and pension eligibility.Move PhilHealth to direct contributorYour category changes the moment the employer share stops.

06If you need money now

DSWD AICSAssistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation, assessed by a social worker.TUPADEmergency community employment, 10 to 30 days, paid at the region's highest minimum wage.10 to 30 daysGovernment loans comparedWhat SSS, GSIS and Pag-IBIG will lend, side by side, before you borrow privately.SSS salary loanAvailable while your contributions are current, which is a reason not to let them lapse.Pag-IBIG multi-purpose loanUsually the fastest of the three to release.

07Retrain while you are between jobs

TESDA runs the scholarship and the course, so the training itself can cost nothing.

TESDA free coursesWhat is actually free, and what still carries an assessment fee.TESDA scholarshipsThe programmes that cover training costs, and who qualifies.National CertificateThe qualification an employer actually recognises at the end of it.

What this page is

A route through guides this site already publishes, in the order the situation actually demands. It carries no sourcing band because it asserts nothing: every figure lives on the guide it links to, with its own source and its own verification date.

Related situations

Someone in the family diedThe death certificate comes first, because every claim and every transfer asks for it. Then the benefits, then the estate.Starting a businessFour levels of government in a fixed order: your name, your barangay, your city, then BIR. Skipping ahead means being turned away.