Obstacles to granting earnings-related daily allowance
There may be various obstacles to granting earnings-related daily allowance. Below you can find more information about what benefits or situations may prevent the payment of earnings-related daily allowance.
Waiting period
Before the payment of earnings-related allowance can begin, a 7-day waiting period is applied and daily allowance is not paid for this period. The waiting period must correspond to seven workdays and must be completed within eight consecutive calendar weeks. If the first day of your waiting period is in week 8 (on Friday), the waiting period must end on week 15 at the latest. A maximum of five days per calendar week can be included in the waiting period.
The waiting period is seven business days if you are fully unemployed. If you are working part-time your “unemployed” hours count towards the 7-day waiting period. For example, if you work 4 hours per day and 20 hours per week and a full-time working week in the sector is 37.5 hours, 3.5 hours per day and 17.5 hours per week can be counted towards your waiting period. This means that you need to accumulate a total of 7 x 7.5 hours, i.e. 52.5 hours (=corresponding to three working weeks), to complete your waiting period.
The 7-day waiting period is not applied if you meet the working condition again and the new maximum period of daily allowance starts less than a year after the start of the previous daily allowance period. For example, if the payment of your earnings-related daily allowance has started after a waiting period on 1 June 2023, a new waiting period will not be applied if you work 26 weeks and your new daily allowance period starts on 31 May 2024 at the latest.
Holiday compensation
If you have worked full-time more than two weeks and you receive holiday compensation at the end of your employment relationship, this will postpone your right to the earnings-related allowance. Holiday compensation is paid for holidays that have not been taken during the employment relationship. If, for example, the amount of holidays compensation is equal to your one month’s salary, the earnings-related allowance is postponed by about a month. If the holiday compensation is paid for part-time work or for full-time work lasting no more than two weeks, the periodizing will not be done. But the holiday compensation is included in the salary when the adjusted allowance is paid.
Earnings-related daily allowance cannot also be paid if (the list is not conclusive)
- you receive holiday pay or holiday compensation on the basis of earned income from full-time work
- you are not registered as a jobseeker with the TE Office
- you receive pregrancy allowance, special pregrancy allowance or parental allowance
- you receive old-age pension or early old-age pension (please note that this is not the same as partial early old-age pension) under the National Pensions Act or employment pension legislation
- you receive old-age pension based on full years of service
- you are completing military service or civilian service
- you are a full-time student (does not apply to short-term studies)
- you are under 18 years of age
- you have reached the age of 65. As an exception, earnings-related daily allowance may be paid after you have reached the age of 65 if you have been laid off or have been prevented from working due to weather conditions or collective action. The payment of daily allowance ends when you reach the age of 68 at the latest.
Right to earnings-related daily allowance may be lost due to absence from the labour market
You must be on the labour market to retain your right to earnings-related daily allowance. Being on the labour market means that you are in employment that meets the working condition, you are self-employed, or you are registered as an unemployed jobseeker with the TE Office. If you are outside the labour market for more than six months you may lose your right to earnings-related daily allowance, unless you have an acceptable reason for your absence, as referred to in the Unemployment Security Act. Your right to earnings-related daily allowance will not be restored until you have worked at least 26 weeks after your absence and met the working condition during this period. Acceptable reasons for being outside the labour market include, but are not limited to, taking care of a child under 3 years of age at home, full-time studies, military service and periods of sick leave or rehabilitation. Please note that a period for which you receive severance pay / a support package is not an acceptable reason for being outside the labour market and you must register as a jobseeker with the TE Office when your employment ends, even if you receive severance pay or a support package. Getting an additional pensio is also not an acceptable reason for being outside the labour market.
Employer’s obligation to pay wages and extra payments prevent the payment of earnings-related daily allowance
The unemployment fund will not pay earnings-related daily allowance for a period during which the employer has an obligation to pay wages. If you would be entitled to wages or compensation from your employer during your notice period, but you have given up this right either completely or you have agreed, for example, on a notice period that is shorter than the notice period required by law or agreement, you will not be paid earnings-related allowance for the period for which you would have been entitled to notice period wages or compensation for the termination of employment.
The payment of earnings-related daily allowance is also prevented if your employer makes a payment to you (such as severance pay, support package or motivation bonus) which can be considered to be made due to the termination of your employment. In such case, the unemployment fund divides the payment into periods on the basis of your income from your latest employment relationship. It does not matter what name the payment was made under or when the payment was made. For example, your employer may have made payments for several months before the end of your employment. If a payment is interpreted as being additional compensation, the unemployment fund will add monthly payments together and divide the whole amount into periods starting from the end of employment. The deferral period division is done by comparing the amount of the payments made by the employer to daily pay, which is calculated using the same principle used to calculate daily pay from the earned income on which the earnings-related daily allowance is based. However, a deduction of 3.76 percent is not made to daily pay calculated for the purpose of determining a deferral period, unlike when calculating the earnings-related daily allowance.
You must keep your job search active during the deferral period
You must keep your job search active during the deferral period because you must be available on the labour market to retain your right to earnings-related daily allowance after the deferral period.
If you work at least 26 weeks during your deferral period or after and meet the working condition again, the rate of earnings-related daily allowance is calculated based on this work when you start receiving earnings-related daily allowance after the deferral period.
Mandatory waiting periods imposed by the TE Office
The TE Office may impose mandatory waiting periods of varying lengths. Mandatory waiting periods are periods for which earnings-related daily allowance cannot be paid if you have influenced your own unemployment in some way. All calendar days are counted to mandatory waiting period. You can get more information about waiting periods and obligations related to applying for a work from the TE Office.
A mandatory waiting period of 45 days may be imposed if you have resigned without an acceptable reason or have caused the termination of work by your own improper actions. If the employment would have lasted five days or less, the mandatory waiting period is 30 days. If you refuse work (you have been selected) that would have lasted more than two weeks the mandatory waiting period is 45 days. If the employment was supposed to last two weeks at most, the mandatory waiting period is 30 days.
If you refuse a work training trial or other employment-promoting service without an acceptable reason, a reminder will follow from the first refusal or failure to comply. A 7-day mandatory waiting period will follow from the second and a 14-day mandatory waiting period will follow from the third refusal or failure to comply. The fourth refusal or failure to comply will lead to suspension of earnings-related daily allowance for the time being. The review period is 12 months.
If the earnings-related daily allowance has been suspended, it can be restarted after you have been working or have been in training for 12 weeks. If you participate in employment promoting services (e.g. labour market training, independent studies, a trial, job search training) earnings-related daily allowance is paid for the duration of the service even if the TE Office has imposed a mandatory waiting period for the same period. You can find further information on suspension periods on TE Office website.