The Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997 grants citizens the right to social security in the event of occurrence of the social risks set out in Article 67 thereof. One of these reasons is the situation of being out of work involuntarily, in the absence of other means of support. Therefore, it is a manner in which one of typical social risks, i.e. unemployment, was identified in the Constitution. The protection from the effects of this risk is being implemented using the forms provided for by the legislator, mainly by applying the unemployment benefit. This paper presents the conditions to be met to determine the possibility of exercising the right to social security when being out of work. The legal nature of unemployment benefit has also been discussed. The paper has also pointed to the relationship between the manner of exercising the right to social security and the welfare security of citizens.