Protection and Benefits

1.Maternity and child benefits

Law has established numerous protective devices at the enterprise level to provide a social safety that serves to the needs of women of childbearing age. Thus, family policy and employment policy are joined.

In addition to basic allowances for all workers, special allowances exist for children of military personnel, children with unmarried, divorced, or widowed mothers, and children who are disabled. Maternity leave benefits are based on the minimum wage rather than on a woman's current wage, however.

Russia provides a maternity grant, which is a one-time payment totaling three times the minimum wage or 45 % of the minimum wage in the case of mothers who have worked less than one year. In order to receive a maternity allowance (or sickness benefits), a woman must have an employment contract.

Maternity allowances in Russia are followed by a monthly child allowance of 80 % of the minimum wage in the case of children up to 18 months old. An additional compensatory child-care allowance, equivalent to 35 % of the minimum wage, is available to mothers or other care-takers of children under the age of three.

Russia also has a child allowance of 45 % of the minimum wage (60 percent for children of military personnel, children living with a guardian or in an orphanage, and children with AIDS) to assist families with the care of children between the ages of eighteen months and six years.

Single mothers and those who receive no child support from the father of their child may obtain an additional 45 % of the minimum wage up to their child's sixth birthday. In May 1992, special cost-of-living compensations were introduced to cover the increased expense of meeting children's basic needs.

Vocabulary

benefit device

childbearing allowance

wage total

in the case of additional

available guardian

orphanage to assist

to obtain to increase

Workers’ benefits

A large number of Russian workers have entitlements to housing, child care, and paid vacations. Housing entitlements involve either a provision of a low-rent apartment (most apartment rents are very low) or various forms of cash or in-kind assistance. Moreover, occupants obtain an implicit owner- ship right beyond their term of employment.

Besides housing allowances, most large and medium enterprises provide medical facilities or they contract for health care facilities for their employees. The medical care provided through the auspices of enterprises is free.

The Social Insurance Fund is the administrative mechanism for payments to workers of birth, maternity, and sickness allowances, and child allowances for children between the ages of 6 and 16. The fund is managed by the largest union organization in Russia, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FederatsiyanezavisimykhprofsoyuzovRossii –FNPR).

In 1993 an overhaul of the fund's administrative structure began as a result of enterprises' low levels of compliance and the government's desire to promote democratic accountability. Since 1993 the management system has been in flux, and the quality of administration varies considerably throughout the country. Most worker contributions to the fund are retained by the enterprise for distribution. About one-half of the money goes to sick pay and one-fifth to subsidize treatment at sanatoriums.

Vocabulary

entitlement to involve

to rent in-kind

employment facility

auspice insurance

overhaul compliance

flux to retain

distribution

Family benefits

Russia also has an overall system of family benefits. These can be grouped into 3 categories:

a) those payable to all families with children, regardless of income or other qualifying conditions;

b) those payable to working mothers;

c) those payable to disadvantaged families.

The communist system, for all its economic and moral deformities, provided virtually universal employment, so that every able-bodied citizen had an opportunity to earn income and thus social security.

In post-communist Russia, the phenomenon of unemployment is openly acknowledged and growing. At the end of 1995, some 8.2 million people were registered as unemployed. Three years earlier, about 5 million were registered.

Administered by the Ministry of Labor, the Employment Fund, which is financed by a 2 % payroll tax from all enterprises, gives compensation to jobless people. The level of compensation was expected to drop further if unemployment rose.

The Ministry of Labor's subsistence minimum is based on the cost of nineteen items considered sufficient to ensure survival, plus a minimum cost for utilities, transportation, and other necessities. The calculation varies according to age-group and region. Trade unions use other formulas that usually expand the number of people identified as living below the poverty line.

Vocabulary

overall regardless

disadvantaged for all

virtually able-bodied

to earn to acknowledge

payroll tax subsistence

utility to expand

below

VOCABULARY TO THE TOPIC: “SOCIAL WELFARE IN RUSSIA”

A. inappropriate welfare service absence coverage

benefit disparity failure recipient

to force poverty to maintain comprehensive