Working and receiving wages during alternation leave

Working and receiving wages while you are on alternation leave can affect the amount of your alternation allowance.

Please let your unemployment fund know as soon as possible if you start working during your alternation leave. We would prefer you to let us know before you start work so that we will not have to recover alternation allowance payments. Please note that you will continue to use up your alternation leave while you work, even if you are not receiving an alternation allowance.

Working for your regular employer

If you work for the employer from whom you took alternation leave during your alternation leave, you will not be paid an alternation allowance for the days you work. The number of hours you work is irrelevant; an alternation allowance cannot be paid for any day that you work.

Alternation allowances are paid for a maximum of five days a week. If you do two days of work for your regular employer, you will only receive an alternation allowance for up to three days during that week, even if you did the work over the weekend.

You cannot be paid an alternation allowance for any period for which you are receiving annual holiday pay or other payments in lieu of leave from your employer.

Wages and other remunerations that you earned before your alternation leave will not be deducted from your alternation allowance even if these remunerations are paid while you are on leave. Examples of these kinds of remunerations include performance-related pay, bonuses, evening allowances and overtime pay. The amount of your alternation allowance is also not affected by holiday bonus, even if you receive your holiday bonus while you are on alternation leave.

Benefits in kind that you continue to receive while on alternation leave are not deducted from your alternation allowance either.

Working for another employer

If you work part-time or for a period of less than two weeks for an employer other than the one from whom you took alternation leave, your alternation allowance will be adjusted accordingly. In such circumstances, you will be entitled to your alternation allowance even for the days that you work, but all your wages and other remunerations will be taken into account when calculating your allowance. The same formula is used to calculate the deduction as with an adjusted allowance. The exempt amount of your income will not, however, be taken into account.

You can find out more about adjustments based on income under What is an adjusted allowance?.

If you work full-time for a period of more than two weeks for an employer other than the one from whom you took alternation leave, you will not be paid an alternation allowance for the period that you work.