Frequently asked questions of lay-offs

 

I was last laid off starting from November 6, 2023. I worked a three-day work week until the end of 2023. If I am laid off again in November, will my waiting period still be valid?

The waiting period is no longer valid. When the length of the employment condition changed to 12 months starting from September 2, 2024, a change was also made to the waiting period so that it is always set when the employment condition is met. Previously, the waiting period was valid for about a year if at least one day of daily allowance had been paid in connection with the waiting period. This procedure ensured that the waiting period only needed to be set once a year, even if the 26-week employment condition was met twice in a year. Since the employment condition has now changed to 12 months, the aforementioned one-year rule was removed from the law. Therefore, the waiting period will always be set when the 12-month employment condition is met.

If the waiting period was last set from November 6, 2023, and you worked a three-day work week, you have accumulated employment condition weeks alongside the layoff. The employment condition has accumulated until September 1, 2024, for those calendar weeks in which you have worked at least 18 hours per week. Therefore, you have accumulated 43 employment condition weeks until September 1, 2024. These are converted into employment condition months by dividing 43 by 4. The result is 11 months when the result (10.75) is rounded up. Note that the period from November 6, 2023, to September 1, 2024, is slightly less than 10 months according to the calendar. The conversion described above causes the employment condition months to be more than they would be according to the calendar. For September and October 2024, the employment condition has accumulated according to the new law if you have received a salary of at least 930 euros per month. If the layoff begins in November 2024, you will have already accumulated at least 12 employment condition months by the start of the layoff, so the waiting period will be set.

I was laid off in March 2024 during the waiting period (4.3.-12.3.2024), and no daily allowance was paid. I will be laid off again in December for two weeks. Will I have a waiting period?

The waiting period will not be set. The employment condition was extended to 12 calendar months starting from 2.9.2024, and you are now subject to this. This also means that the waiting period is valid until you meet the 12 calendar month employment condition again. It does not matter that no daily allowance was paid in March during the waiting period, because the requirement that at least one day of daily allowance must be paid for the waiting period to be valid for about a year, was removed from the law. Therefore, the waiting period will always be set when the 12-month employment condition is met. The calculation of the new employment condition started on 13.3.2024. Since the next layoff is already in December, you will not meet the 12-month employment condition between the layoffs, so a new waiting period will not be set.

I last received daily allowance in October 2023. I will be laid off again in November. The estimated duration of the layoff is 90 days. Will my daily allowance be reduced?

You have met the 12-month employment condition between the layoffs, so you are subject to the reduction. The level of the daily allowance will be reduced by 20 % if the layoff lasts long enough for us to pay you daily allowance for 40 payment days. We will first set a 7-day waiting period when the layoff begins. However, the next reduction will not be made if the layoff lasts no more than 90 days. The next reduction would be made only after we have paid daily allowance for 170 payment days.

I am about to be laid off. What should I do first?

Register as an unemployed jobseeker on the first day of the lay-off at the latest. You can register as a jobseeker online. Your employer cannot register on your behalf. Your jobseeking starts on the day you register. Earnings-related daily allowance can only be paid for the period for which your job search is active. register as an unenmployed jobseeker at Job Market Finland (E-services). 

What will be the amount of my earnings-related daily allowance?

You can calculate the rate of your daily allowance by visiting the unemployment fund’s electronic services which can be accessed here. Once you have logged in, you can find a link to the daily allowance calculator on the front page. 

When and how do I apply for daily allowance?

Submit your allowance application via our electronic services, which can be accessed by clicking here. If you are not able to use electronic services, please contact the Unemployment Fund Pro

Please note that you cannot apply for earnings-related daily allowance in advance. The allowance is also not paid for a period of more than three months prior.

If you are laid off for an uninterrupted period of at least two weeks, fill in an application for earnings-related daily allowance for the first two weeks of lay-off and submit it to the unemployment fund after the two weeks have passed. If you are unable to use the electronic services for submitting the application, please send the application and attachments by post.

If you have been laid off on a regular schedule of every other week, please submit your application after three weeks from the start of your lay-off. For example, if your first week of lay-off is week 15 and your next week of lay-off is week 18, you should submit your application at the enod of week 18 (Sunday).

If you are laid off to shortened working weeks, please submit your applications in accordance with your wage payment period. If your wages are paid at the end of each month, you should submit your initial application on the last day of the month in which your lay-off started. For example, if your lay-off starts on 7 January you should submit your initial application on 31 January. Submit your next application for the entire month of February and so forth.

If you have layoff days only occasionally, submit your application for a shorter period to prevent the earnings-related unemployment allowance days from “expiring,” as the earnings-related unemployment allowance is paid retroactively for only three months.

If you are laid off for seven days (= a waiting period) and you don't know when you will be laid off again, submit your application after the lay-off has ended.    

Attachments to be submitted with your application:

• Notice of lay-off provided by your employer. The unemployment fund accepts for example a notice which is sent by e-mail and not signed “with a pen”.
• Any decisions on social benefits (see the application form for information on which decisions are required)
• Tax decision if you have part-time business activities, such as agricultural or forestry activities
• Revised tax card if you have not requested for it to be delivered directly to the unemployment fund. The unemployment fund has received new tax information, which came into effect on 1 January, directly from the Tax Administration and withholding tax will be collected based on this information if you have not submitted a revised tax card. Please note that these tax cards have a withholding tax rate of at least 25 percent.

You can order a revised tax card for the payment of earnings-related daily allowance from MyTax.

The unemployment fund receives information on earned income from the Incomes Register. Therefore, there is no need to submit your pay statements. But the information is not always sufficient. In this case, we request additional information to clarify the details in the Incomes Register, or we may ask for payslips or a salary certificate. You should also check yourself before submitting the application whether your information in the Incomes Register is correct. If there are deficiencies, ask your employer to correct the information.

What to do after sending my first application?

If you have submitted your initial application to the unemployment fund and your lay-off continues, please submit your next application after four more calendar weeks have passed. If we pay you adjusted daily allowance, please align your daily allowance applications with your wage payment period and submit your applications either monthly or every four weeks.  

I went to your electronic services to view my Incomes Register data, but it says that the data is missing. Why is that?

The unemployment fund does not receive the information from the Incomes Register until after you have submitted your application to the fund. If you wish to view your Incomes Register information before submitting your application, you must log in to the Incomes Register (www.tulorekisteri.fi).

How can I check the processing status of my application?

You can view the progress of your application from our electronic services. The overall processing status of applications received by the unemployment fund is shown on the front page of our website. 

Does the form of lay-off affect the payment of daily allowance?

The way the layoff is implemented matters. The clearest way to be laid off is to be laid off for entire calendar weeks. If this is not possible, another clear way is to be laid off for entire workdays during the calendar week (so-called shortened workweek). In this option, it is important to note that if you work a four-day workweek (four workdays and one layoff day in a calendar week), the working hours must not exceed the normal working hours on any workday, as you are already working 80 percent of the working hours with a four-day workweek. Earnings-related unemployment allowance can only be paid for those calendar weeks in which the working hours are at most 80 percent of the normal working hours in the industry. If the working hours exceed the 80 percent limit during the calendar week by even a minute, there is no entitlement to earnings-related unemployment allowance for the layoff days of that calendar week. Additionally, if you have, for example, a business, we take into account the salary you receive from the employer who laid you off as well as the business income and pay adjusted daily allowance. And if you are working part-time and are laid off to a shortened workweek (you have both workdays and layoff days during the calendar week), we also pay adjusted daily allowance in this case.

A more complicated form of lay-off is mixed-form lay-off, meaning that you have shortened workdays and full days of lay-off in the course of the same calendar week. In these cases, we pay you adjusted daily allowance and your income is allocated to the period during which it was paid.

Is earnings-related daily allowance paid for public holidays? 

If you receive monthly salary and are laid off for part of a month that includes public holidays, we will not pay you earnings-related daily allowance for the public holidays because salary is not generally reduced due to these holidays. For example, if you are laid off, for example, during Easter week, we will pay you earnings-related daily allowance for 4 days. There are some sectors for which public holidays can be considered to be days of lay-off because work is generally performed on public holidays. In such case, we will pay earnings-related daily allowance for public holidays if they would have been workdays were it not for the lay-off and if pay has been deducted from the days of lay-off. Public holiday compensation may be paid on some sectors, in which case earnings-related daily allowance is not paid for the public holidays due to the compensation. 

How do I pay my membership fees during a lay-off?

If you are fully laid off (you do not receive earned income) you do not need to pay your membership fees yourself. You also do not need to separately report the lay-off to the membership services. The unemployment fund will collect your membership fee from your daily allowance. In such case, the membership fee is EUR 0.34 per each day of daily allowance. If you are partially laid off (you receive earned income), please pay your membership fee as normal.

I am employed part-time and work 0 to 37.5 hours per week as needed. My employer notified me that they cannot offer me work for the next two weeks. Do I need to submit documentation on this to the unemployment fund?

No, you do not, because a minimum number of weekly working hours has not been defined in your contract. You can apply for daily allowance as normal in accordance with your previous application schedule and report that you are unemployed on the weeks for which your employer did not offer you any work. 

I had already agreed on my annual leave, but now I will be laid off. How do I report my annual leave?

Report your annual leave in your application for earnings-related daily allowance by entering “leave” next to the days included in your annual leave. Earnings-related daily allowance is not paid for the period of annual leave, but the payment of earnings-related daily allowance continues as normal after the annual leave.

Does my annual holiday bonus affect the payment of my earnings-related daily allowance?

No, it does not, if the bonus is paid on the basis of annual leave from full-time employment.

I will be paid a holiday bonus for full-time work during my lay-off. Will it affect my daily allowance?

No, it will not.

I can use my telephone benefit during my lay-off. Does this affect the payment of my earnings-related daily allowance?

No, it does not, if you are laid off for full days and we pay you full earnings-related daily allowance for the days of lay-off. 

Does the lay-off notice need to be signed?

The unemployment fund does not require this, and a notice sent by means such as email is sufficient.

I am fully laid off. What do I need to do if I fall ill during my lay-off?

If you are fully laid off and the illness only lasts for a few days, we will pay you earnings-related daily allowance as normal. If your sick leave lasts more than 10 days, you must apply for sickness allowance from Kela, because earnings-related daily allowance can only be paid for the duration of Kela’s waiting period pursuant to the Health Insurance Act. You can find the application for sickness allowance on Kela’s website.

I have been laid off to shorter workdays. What do I do if I fall ill?

If you fall ill during your lay-off we will pay you adjusted daily allowance for the duration of the waiting period for sickness allowance granted by Kela (=the first day of illness + 9 working days, Saturdays included), provided that we have paid you daily allowance for the day preceding the illness. It is not possible to receive adjusted daily allowance after the waiting period for the sickness allowance. Your employer will apply for sickness allowance from Kela for the duration of the employer’s obligation to pay wages. You can apply for the remaining part of the sickness allowance for the duration of the employer’s obligation to pay wages. It is possible that there remains nothing to be paid, but Kela will calculate this individually for each applicant. If nothing remains to be paid, it is possible to apply for social assistance. 

Can I earn money during my layoff?

If you are fully laid off and take on “gig work” with another employer for up to two weeks during the layoff, we will pay adjusted daily allowance. In this case, 50 percent of the income will reduce the daily allowance. If you work full days for your own employer, we will not pay for those workdays and will pay full daily allowance for the layoff days included in the application period. If you work only part of the day for your own employer, we will pay adjusted daily allowance.

I am on old-age pension, but I have continued to work and will now be laid off. Am I entitled to earnings-related daily allowance?

Earnings-related daily allowance cannot be paid because old-age pension is a benefit that prevents the payment of the allowance.  

I have started to receive partial early old-age pension while still working and now I am being laid off. Am I entitled to daily allowance?

Earnings-related daily allowance can be paid because partial early old-age pension is not a benefit that affects the payment of the allowance. You can still collect the pension during your lay-off and earnings-related daily allowance will be paid in full. The pension is not deducted from the earnings-related daily allowance.    

I am on partial disability pension and I am being laid off. How will the rate of my earnings-related daily allowance be calculated and how does my pension affect my daily allowance?

The rate of your earnings-related daily allowance is determined on the basis of earned income you received before your pension if you have been an unemployment fund member during this time. The partial disability pension is deducted in full from your earnings-related daily allowance. For example, if your pension is EUR 1,000 per month, you will receive EUR 1,000 less in earnings-related daily allowance.

If you are laid off to a shortened working week, meaning that you have both workdays and days of lay-off in the same calendar week, we will pay you adjusted and reduced daily allowance. This means that 100 percent of the pension is deducted from the earnings-related daily allowance. We will also take into consideration any earned income paid to you for the month of lay-off and pay you adjusted daily allowance. This may result in the remaining earnings-related daily allowance being EUR 0.

My lay-off was cancelled but I had already registered as a jobseeker. What do I need to do?

Notify the employment officials about the cancellation of your lay-off. The employment officials will then provide the unemployment fund with a statement on the cancellation of your lay-off. 

My lay-off ended sooner than previously agreed. What do I need to do?

Notify the employment officials about the end of your lay-off. If there are days of lay-off from which you have not yet received daily allowance, please submit an application for the remaining days of lay-off.   

Questions related to calculating daily allowance

The unemployment fund says that it receives information on earned income from the Incomes Register. Do I need to submit pay statements?

The amount of the earnings-related unemployment allowance is calculated based on the salary information obtained from the Incomes Register, so in principle, you do not need to send a salary certificate. If the information in the Incomes Register is not sufficient to determine the earnings-related unemployment allowance, we will request additional information to clarify the details in the Incomes Register, or we may ask for pay slips or a salary certificate. You should also check yourself before submitting the application whether your information in the Incomes Register is correct. If there are deficiencies, ask your employer to correct the information.

I am on partial child care leave and I am being laid off. What period is used for determining the rate of my daily allowance?

The rate of your earnings-related daily allowance is calculated on the basis of the work you have performed before your partial child care leave, provided that you have been an unemployment fund member at this time. If you have been on parental leave and child home care allowance before the partial child care leave, these periods are skipped over and the rate of earnings-related daily allowance is calculated on the basis of work performed prior to the parental leave, provided that you have been a member of the unemployment fund and met the 12-month working condition before taking parental leave. The length of your partial child care leave does not matter in this case. This means that the period based on which the daily allowance is calculated may be very long. However, an index adjustment cannot be applied to the amount of daily allowance. Ask your employer for pay statements from the time preceding your partial child care leave, because the period of child care leave is not indicated in the Incomes Register. 
If you have joined the unemployment fund during your partial child care leave your rate of daily allowance has to be calculated on the basis of pay received during the child care leave.
If you receive partial or flexible care allowance from Kela during the lay-off, the amount of the allowance is deducted from your unemployment allowance. 

I am on partial early old-age pension. What period is used for determining the rate of my earnings-related daily allowance?

The rate of earnings-related daily allowance is calculated on the basis of income from the period immediately preceding your lay-off, even if you have worked part-time after the start of partial early old-age pension. The period of partial early old-age pension cannot be skipped over when calculating the rate of earnings-related daily allowance. However, partial early old-age pension does not affect the payment of the earnings-related daily allowance, because the pension is not a benefit that reduces the daily allowance.  

I am studying and working part-time. My employer is now planning to lay me off. From which period is my earnings-related daily allowance calculated?

The study period is not skipped over when calculating the level of the earnings-related daily allowance if you have worked enough during your studies that the salary from the work meets the employment condition. Therefore, the salaries from these work periods are included in the calculation of the earnings-related daily allowance.

I have voluntarily worked part-time. From which period is my earnings-related daily allowance calculated when I am laid off?

If you have worked part-time enough to meet the employment condition, the earnings-related daily allowance is calculated based on the income before the layoff. The earnings-related daily allowance is thus calculated from the period during which the employment condition was met.