Questions about earnings-related daily allowance

Am I entitled to earnings-related daily allowance?

You may be entitled to earnings-related daily allowance if you are a member of an unemployment fund and if you meet the conditions for earnings-related daily allowance. These conditions include the membership and employment requirements. You also need to be registered as an unemployed jobseeker with the TE Office.

The membership requirement is met if you have been a member of an unemployment fund for at least 26 weeks. You can only receive earnings-related daily allowance if you meet the employment requirement while you have been a member of the fund.

‘Employment requirement’ means that you must have worked for a period of 26 calendar weeks. Every week during which you worked at least 18 hours counts towards the employment requirement. In addition, the pay you receive for the work must be in accordance with the collective agreement. You can satisfy the employment requirement by working several isolated periods, as long as all these take place within the review period of 28 months.

The employment requirement and the membership requirement will extend from 26 weeks (approximately 6 months) to 12 months as of 2 September 2024. In addition as of 2 September 2024, the employment requirement will accrue based on earnings rather than working hours.

For more information, see Employment requirement. You can also find more information about restrictions under Barriers to qualifying for an earnings-related allowance.

If your membership or employment requirement is not met, you can apply for unemployment allowance from Kela. For more information, see the Kela website.

Why didn’t I receive earnings-related daily allowance for the first seven days?

Payment of earnings-related unemployment allowance can begin after the expiry of the personal liability period applied to the unemployed job-seeker. The duration of personal liability period is seven days.

Saturdays and Sundays do not count towards the personal liability period. Only days on which your job-seeker status has been active with the TE Office count towards your personal liability period. Your personal liability period does not include days for which you are not entitled to earnings-related allowance, such as a mandatory waiting period.

If you work part-time or have been laid off on a part-time basis, your personal liability period is calculated based on your weekly working hours to make up seven full working days.

The personal liability period is five days if at least the first day of the period falls within 2023. For more information, see Personal liability period.

What is the mandatory waiting period?

‘Mandatory waiting period’ means a period imposed by the TE Office during which you are not entitled to an earnings-related allowance. The TE Office can impose a mandatory waiting period if, for example, you have caused the termination of your employment yourself or you have refused work. You cannot usually receive an earnings-related allowance during your mandatory waiting period. You can, however, be paid an earnings-related allowance during your mandatory waiting period if you participate in a service that promotes employment based on an agreement with the TE Office.

For more information about mandatory waiting periods and the grounds on which mandatory waiting periods are imposed, see the TE Services website.

The decision about my earnings-related allowance claimed that my monthly pay was x. In actual fact, my monthly pay was higher. Is there a mistake in the decision?

The difference is most likely due to the unemployment insurance (TyEL) deduction made to the salary on which your earnings-related daily allowance is based.

The TyEL contribution is deducted when determining the amount of your earnings-related daily allowance. The deduction corresponds to the employee’s earnings-related pension and unemployment insurance contribution and daily sickness insurance allowance contribution and is adjusted annually. In 2024, the deduction is 3.76%.

Why has my earnings-related daily allowance been recalculated?

Your earnings-related daily allowance has been recalculated because you have met the employment requirement.

The employment requirement is met when you have worked at least 18 hours per week for 26 weeks. Your earnings-related daily allowance is recalculated, and the maximum payment period for the allowance is reset. The personal liability period is also reset.

However, your allowance will not be recalculated, and the personal liability period reset if

•  the maximum payment period for the allowance begins within one year of the start of the previous maximum payment period, and
•  the salary on which the allowance is based was calculated at the time when the previous allowance period began.

For more information, see Employment requirement.

My earnings-related allowance days have ended, and I need a certificate to show this. How do I get one?

Payment of earnings-related daily allowance ends when the maximum payment period for earnings-related daily allowance has elapsed. You will receive a decision on the end of the payment of earnings-related daily allowance once your final application has been processed. The decision will be sent to you by mail, and you will also find it in the eService under Tilannetiedot (status).

I received a severance package / support package. How will it affect my allowance?

If your employer gives you a financial benefit based on the termination of your employment, such as a severance (support) package or severance pay, the benefit will be accounted for on a periodic basis. You cannot receive earnings-related allowance for the period that the severance package is deemed to cover.

This means that we will calculate how many days of pay the severance package covers, during which time you cannot receive earnings-related daily allowance.  The severance period begins at the end of your employment.

The length of this period is based on your daily salary. Daily salary is calculated the same way as the daily salary used as the basis for earnings-related daily allowance without a TyEL deduction. The number of days that the benefit is deemed to cover is calculated by dividing the total amount of the severance benefit that you receive by your daily salary.

In order for us to calculate the length of the severance period, you need to apply for earnings-related daily allowance. You will receive a decision on the severance period after we have processed your application.

Remember to register as a jobseeker with the TE Office

Be sure to register as a jobseeker with the TE Office even if you don’t apply for earnings-related daily allowance due to receiving a severance package. If you don’t register as a jobseeker and are out of the labour market for more than 6 months without a valid reason, you will lose employment requirement status. If this happens, we can only pay you earnings-related daily allowance after you have met the employment requirement again.

Please note that the TE Office will investigate the reason for the termination of your employment if your employment ended by mutual agreement with the employer. If there is no valid reason for the termination of the employment, the TE Office imposes a waiting period during which earnings-related daily allowance cannot be paid. However, the waiting period can be simultaneous with the time during which you receive severance pay.

How does holiday bonus and holiday compensation affect my earnings-related daily allowance?

Holiday compensation paid upon the end of full-time employment that lasted for more than two weeks will postpone the payment of unemployment allowance. The period that the payment is deemed to cover begins from the end of your employment. This means that compensation paid for unused annual leave postpones the start of eligibility to earnings-related unemployment allowance. For example, holiday compensation equal to one month’s pay postpones the start of your eligibility to earnings-related unemployment allowance by approximately one month.

This change concerns holiday compensation paid on the basis of an employment relationship ending on or after 1 January 2024.

Holiday bonuses and holiday compensation earned from part-time work or full-time work lasting less than two weeks are income that must be taken into account when calculating the amount of allowance. If you work part-time and apply for an adjusted earnings-related daily allowance, any holiday bonuses and holiday compensation you have received from the part-time work will be taken into account in your earnings-related daily allowance in the same way as other income you earn from part-time work.

Holiday bonuses and holiday compensation are not taken into account in determining earnings-related daily allowance. We will determine your earnings-related daily allowance when processing your first application and, as a general rule, whenever your employment requirement is met again.

Please note that the holiday pay you receive during the annual leave is not the same as holiday bonus and holiday compensation. Holiday bonus is always paid in addition to normal salary. Holiday compensation, in turn, can be paid for unused days of holiday. Holiday pay received during your annual leave is regular salary and taken into account when calculating your amount of earnings-related daily allowance.

How does child care allowance affect my earnings-related daily allowance?

If you are unemployed and receive child care allowance from Kela, we will deduct the child care allowance from your earnings-related daily allowance. Child care allowance is a family-specific benefit, which means that any child care allowance paid to your spouse may also reduce your earnings-related daily allowance.

Child care allowance paid to your spouse reduces your earnings-related daily allowance if your spouse is employed, studying or practices a business. Please note that even minor or part-time employment or business activities by your spouse may result in us deducting the child care allowance paid to them from your earnings-related daily allowance.

Your spouse’s child care allowance is not deducted from your earnings-related daily allowance if

• your spouse is unemployed and the child care allowance is deducted from his or her unemployment benefits,
• in addition to child care allowance, your spouse receives maternity, special maternity, paternity, pregnancy or special pregnancy allowance or parental allowance, or
• your spouse is not entitled to unemployment benefits because he or she is caring for the child at home full-time.

Does a Partial Early Old-Age Pension Affect My Earnings-Related Daily Allowance?

A partial early old-age pension does not prevent the payment of the earnings-related daily allowance, nor is it deducted from the amount payable. If you receive a partial early old-age pension while unemployed, it does not affect your earnings-related daily allowance.

If, prior to unemployment, you reduced your working hours due to a partial early old-age pension, this may influence the calculation of your earnings-related daily allowance at the onset of unemployment. The amount of your earnings-related daily allowance is calculated based on the wages you earned during the employment requirement period before unemployment. If your employment requirement includes part-time work, the wages from this part-time employment will be used in the calculation, resulting in a lower earnings-related daily allowance compared to that based on full-time work wages.

How many days of earnings-related allowance do I have remaining?

You can see the number of earnings-related allowance days you have used in the payment notice or in the eService under Tilannetiedot (status). The difference between the maximum days and the number of days you have used tells you how many earnings-related allowance days you have remaining. For example, 250/400 means that 250 days have been used of the maximum 400 days and there are still 150 days left.

If you are entirely without work, you will use up five days of earnings-related allowance weekly. If you work part-time and receive an adjusted allowance, the number of days that are used depend on the amount of adjusted allowance you receive in each application period.

You will receive a payment notice for the earnings-related allowance after your application has been processed. You can find payment notices in the eService under Status.